Freshman guard Breigha Wilder-Cochran has no shortage of accolades from her freshman campaign on the University of Memphis women's basketball team.
Her list of achievements includes breaking the Memphis freshman assist record with 122 dimes and being named to the American Athletic Conference all-freshman team.
Since suiting up for the Tigers, Wilder-Cochran has blown away expectations, including her own.
"I had no clue it would be like this," Wilder-Cochran said. "I knew I would come in and give my team quality minutes and play my role to the best of my ability. Whatever I was needed to do I was gonna do it, but I didn't expect to come in playing this many minutes and coming up and putting in some of the stats that I'm putting up."
However, she nearly never became a Tiger.
Wilder-Cochran originally committed to play at the University of South Alabama.
"(South Alabama) was only like three hours away from my home, which would allow my parents to come up to games," Wilder-Cochran said. "When I went down there, the campus was nice, the living area, the coaches, the players, I fell in love with them."
She said she thinks she would have committed to Memphis, but the Tigers found themselves without a scholarship to offer Wilder-Cochran.
Memphis tried to find a way to get her on campus, but Wilder-Cochran committed to South Alabama because the risk was too great of not having a scholarship at Memphis.
In the end, everything worked out. The Tigers freed up a scholarship, and South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri was fired, sending Wilder-Cochran back to Memphis.
Wilder-Cochran started 20 of the 30 games she played this season, averaging 29.9 minutes per contest. She averaged 7.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. Her 4.2 assists were tied for third in the American.
Memphis head coach Melissa McFerrin said she liked Wilder-Cochran in high school, but she didn't expect this kind of production.
"She came from a very good high school program," McFerrin said. "We liked her body. We thought her body was ready to go. I don't know that I would have expected when we recruited her that she would be playing 30 minutes a game.
To McFerrin, Wilder-Cochran's impact means more than the numbers in the box score.
"She's been very steady and takes care of the basketball," McFerrin said. "She's been a real mainstay for us defensively."
While her freshman season has been a success, Wilder-Cochran acknowledges that there are multiple areas of her game she'd still like to improve upon.
"Just being more of a consistent scorer," the freshman guard said. "Working on my jump shot, working on finishing at the rim and bettering my free throw percentage."
Next season will provide Wilder-Cochran ample opportunity to continue improving with two senior guards graduating in the spring. Her role will continue to expand, and McFerrin and the Tigers hope her skill set will expand as well.
