Kentucky WBB center Tionna Herron announces transfer to Texas

Kentucky women’s basketball’s best recruiting win since Rhyne Howard is headed back home.

On Wednesday afternoon, redshirt freshman center Tionna “Tree” Herron announced on social media that she will transfer to the Texas Longhorns. The 6-foot-4 post player sat out her entire freshman season at UK after undergoing open heart surgery in the offseason, but she’s expected to be ready to play for the upcoming 2023-24 season. Unfortunately, that will now be in Austin instead of Lexington.

News of Herron’s decision to transfer out of Kentucky initially surfaced one week ago on May 10. Originally from DeSoto, TX, she was a former four-star recruit out of high school, considered a top 70 player from the class of 2022. Herron initially chose the ‘Cats over Louisville, Ole Miss, Arizona, Florida State, and Florida.

With the Longhorns, Herron will have four years of college eligibility remaining. She joins a program that has won 20-plus games in each of the three seasons that Vic Schaefer has been head coach. Texas made the Elite 8 in 2021 and 2022 before getting knocked out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past season. Even before landing Herron, the Longhorns were already expected to begin the ’23-24 season as a top 25 team in the country.

Herron is the third Wildcat to announce a transfer this offseason. Jada Walker (Baylor) and Kennedy Cambridge (undecided) did the same not long after the ’22-23 season came to a close, but Herron’s decision came as a surprise. Her departure leaves an even bigger hole in the frontcourt rotation for next season’s Wildcats. Head coach Kyra Elzy recently secured a signature from 6-foot-4 class of 2023 forward Janae Walker out of Georgia, who will look to help fill that void.