Purdue women's basketball offseason tracker: Nya Smith commits
Smith was named Freshman and Sixth Woman of the Year in the Southern Conference last season
Nya Smith is the latest transfer to join the Boilermakers.
The 5-foot-9 Smith made her announcement on Sunday, giving the program its fourth player from the portal. Smith committed to coach Katie Gearlds and the coaching staff on Sunday morning following her campus visit.
Purdue has nine players on its roster for the 2025-26 season, with likely more to come.
Smith was named the SoCon’s Freshman and Sixth Woman of the Year, earning first-team all-conference honors after a solid rookie season at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. It’s the first time a freshman from UNCG has won the league’s Freshman of the Year honor.
The native of Milton, Ga., started four of 32 games, helping the Spartans win the league tournament and advance to the NCAA’s for the first time since 1998. UNCG lost to USC 71-25 as Smith scored seven points.
For the season, Smith averaged 10.9 points, shooting 36.2% from the field and 32.7% from 3-point range. She led the Spartans in scoring (13.9) and shot 41.7% from 3-point range during the conference season.
Smith is considered a wing player and joins fellow transfers Taylor Feldman (Northern Arizona) and Kiki Smith (Arkansas) as potential backcourt teammates with the Boilermakers.
Smith began the season in the starting lineup, but came off the bench in the third game after totaling five points. She responded with 21 points in her second game as a reserve. Smith reached double figures in 21 games, including 19 times in the last 24 games.
Smith finished with more turnovers (59) than assists (32) but generated 33 steals. She led the team in 3-point attempts with 162, and nearly 50% of her field goal attempts came from beyond the arc.
Purdue’s transfer portal class consists of Nya Smith, Feldman, Kiki Smith, and Madison Layden-Zay, a former Boilermaker who played four seasons before sitting out last year.
The women’s basketball portal closes Wednesday, but players can commit/sign with programs after that date for the 2025-26 season if they’ve submitted the paperwork by the deadline.
The old saying “THAT NOTHING EVER STAYS THE SAME”— is sure here—-and I love change—something had to happen after last year and Katie is making them, I will say what I see right now—it will be for the better—I really liked our players last year and stood by them every game and was looking forward to this season and with the new players coming in —- I was ready—but they were not Loyal Purdue players and will soon be forgotten. These 4 players that she signed— they are good and I can’t wait to see them play.— Now—all we have to do is learn to play together—- people call it when a team “GELS”— that didn’t happen last year — for what ever reason—but it has to happen this year— we cannot have a repeat of last year— Everybody knows this—last year there were player errors and there was coaching errors— those 2 things are with every team— but we have to cut them down to a minimum. These are proven players and I want to wish you the very best.— this team will be put together this summer— every team is put together in the off season— I’m not telling you any thing new—it has to happen— soooo — in ending —-LETS GO BOILERS—- HAMMER DOWN THIS SUMMER !!