Basketball runs in Shaylee Gonzales’ blood.

For the 5-foot-10-inch guard from Gilbert, Arizona who transferred from BYU to Texas in the offseason, basketball is the family business. Her earliest memories involve the hardwood.

“I remember when I was super little going to my mom’s high school basketball camps,” Gonzales said. “I was always around the older girls and watched their practices. … I grew up in a gym.”

Both her mom, Candice, and her dad, Josh, played basketball for Grand Canyon University and her four younger siblings play basketball as well. She grew up around the game and her parents coached her when she was young and throughout high school. They were an integral part of her decision to play basketball at an elite level.

“I definitely feel like they were super hard on me, but that’s why I feel like I am the player I am today,” Gonzales said. “They have supported me a lot and they are my number one fans. … I learned a lot from them.” 

Gonzales’ first Division I offer came after she attended a BYU elite training camp when she was 15. BYU offered her on the spot and she committed two years later. Gonzales turned down multiple in-house offers from other schools because she knew she wanted to make her mark at BYU.

“I wanted to be able to change the program and put BYU on the map,” Gonzales said. “I feel like I did that.”  

During her three seasons in Provo, Utah, Gonzales averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She scored 1,555 points, ranking 10th on BYU’s all-time scoring record. When her head coach, Jeff Judkins, retired after 21 years of coaching women’s basketball, she said it was time to close that chapter with him and explore other options.

“I had a great experience and really enjoyed the program,” Gonzales said. “But I decided I wanted to be on a bigger stage and be pushed more as a person and as an athlete.”

 With two years of eligibility left, the 22-year-old said she had a critical decision to make concerning where she would further her basketball career. She said she had over 80 schools reach out to her once she was in the transfer portal. After narrowing it down to Oregon State, Texas and North Carolina State, the two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Week landed on Texas head coach Vic Schaefer and the Longhorns. 

“I wanted to go deeper in the tournament,” Gonzales said. “I want to go to the Elite Eight and the Final Four and try to win a national championship, and I definitely feel like we can do that here at Texas.”

A three-time first-team All-West Coast Conference selection, Gonzales joins an already talented Texas roster that reached the Elite Eight in last year’s NCAA Tournament. She said she wants to do whatever she can to make this team better than the year before. 

“I am a hard worker and I love doing the little things that people don’t usually do,” Gonzales said. “Just being able to adapt to whatever comes at me is what I am looking forward to.”