The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Collier declares for WNBA Draft
03.07.2021 | Women's Basketball
The junior announced Sunday she would forgo her senior season and enter the 2021 WNBA Draft this spring.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Women's Basketball junior forward/center Charli Collier will forgo her senior season and enter the 2021 WNBA Draft this spring, she announced Sunday. Collier is looking to become the 13th player in program history to be selected in the WNBA Draft.
Collier, a Mont Belvieu, Texas native, is averaging 20.9 points, 12.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 24 games this season. She has recorded 17 double-doubles, tied for the second-most by any Division I player, and is the only player in the country averaging more than 20 points and 12 rebounds during the current campaign. Collier has scored at least 20 points on 16 occasions, the second-most by a Big 12 player and is the conference leader with 17 outings where she grabbed double-digit rebounds. Defensively, Collier ranks fifth in the conference in blocked shots (29) and seventh in blocks per game (1.16), and is averaging 7.38 defensive rebounds per game – the third-most among Big 12 competitors. She is anchoring a UT defense that is allowing only 61.9 points per game overall, and 62.6 points on average in conference play. Collier's efforts at the center spot have helped Texas lead the Big 12 in turnovers forced per game (19.7) and average turnover margin (+5.2).
The All-America candidate's outstanding performances on the court have helped her earn a number of accolades this season, most notably earning recognition as a Lisa Leslie Award (nation's top center) finalist, a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the Wooden Award National Ballot. She has twice been named Big 12 Player of the Week (Nov. 30; Jan. 25) and once earned Jersey Mike's Naismith National Player of the Week (Jan. 26) this year.
Collier's importance to the Longhorns' success on the court this season cannot be understated. She has accounted for more than 30 percent of Texas' scoring (29.90%) and rebounding (31.94%) this year. Those percentages are the highest among the five Lisa Leslie Award finalists for the nation's top center, with none of the other four being above 30 percent in either category. Texas is 14-2 (.875 win pct) this season when Collier scores at least 20 points, and just 3-6 (.333) when she does not. Collier's 16 games with at least 20 points are also nine more than any other Leslie Award finalist. Those same win-loss trends hold up for Collier's efforts on the glass as well, with Texas boasting a 14-3 record when she has at least 10 rebounds or a double-double, and 3-5 when she does not.
In late February, ESPN projected Collier as the No. 1 overall pick to the Dallas Wings in its second WNBA Mock Draft his year. Edwina Brown, who was chosen third overall by the Detroit Shock in 2000, currently holds the distinction of being the fastest Longhorn off the board in WNBA Draft.
Texas Women's Basketball in the WNBA Draft
1999 – Edna Campbell (1st Round, 10th overall – Phoenix Mercury)
2000 – Edwina Brown (1st Round, 3rd overall – Detroit Shock)
2004 – Stacy Stephens (3rd round, 37th overall – Houston Comets)
2005 – Jamie Carey (3rd round, 31st overall – Phoenix Mercury)
2005 – Heather Schreiber (3rd round, 39th overall – Los Angeles Sparks)
2007 – Tiffany Jackson (1st round, 5th overall – New York Liberty)
2010 – Brittainey Raven (3rd round, 33rd overall – Atlanta Dream)
2015 – Nneka Enemkpali (3rd round, 26th overall – Seattle Storm)
2016 – Imani McGee-Stafford (1st round, 10th overall – Chicago Sky)
2018 – Ariel Atkins (1st round, 7th overall – Washington Mystics)
2020 – Joyner Holmes (2nd round, 19th overall – Seattle Storm)
2020 – Sug Sutton (3rd round, 36th overall – Washington Mystics)
