Baylor to honor Brittney Griner
Retiring her No. 42 jersey
Baylor is to honor Brittney Griner by retiring her No. 42 jersey on February 18 when they host Texas Tech at the newly opened Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas. Griner, who currently plays for the Phoenix Mercury and was the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA draft, twice led Baylor to the Final Four during her college career. Her junior year was a perfect 40-0 national championship season. She has won two Olympic gold medals and also won the 2014 WNBA title with the Mercury, where she has played for 10 seasons.
Born in Houston and attending high school there, Griner played at Baylor from 2009 to 2013. She is still the NCAA career leader in blocked shots with 748, and she scored 3,283 points and grabbed 1,305 rebounds for Baylor. Recently, she was passed by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark for the No. 4 spot on the NCAA’s all-time women’s basketball scoring list.
Griner’s Statement
Griner said in a statement on Monday, “I’m honored to return home to Baylor and celebrate where so much of my journey started. I’m grateful to Coach Nicki (Collen) and the entire Baylor community and am looking forward to the opportunity to be back on campus, spend time with the team and have my family beside me to share in this incredible moment. Sic ’em Bears.”
Griner is regarded as one of the greatest athletes in any sport in Baylor’s history, but her relationship with former coach Kim Mulkey was strained after the completion of her college career. Mulkey had stated that a player had to have graduated to have their jersey retired.
In 2019, Griner completed her education degree at Baylor.
When Mulkey left the team in 2021 to take over at LSU, Collen was appointed as the new head coach at Baylor and expressed her desire to retire Griner’s number.
There was a possibility that this could happen during the 2021-22 college season, but Griner, who played overseas during the WNBA’s offseason, was detained and imprisoned in Russia in February 2022 and was not released until December of that year.
NBA Tickets
NBA tickets to all games, see the Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Bulls, and your favorite team play.
Griner made a comeback to the WNBA in 2023. In June, when Phoenix played against Dallas, Collen and the entire Baylor women’s basketball team attended the game. At that time, Collen reiterated that they were working towards honoring Griner. Griner’s jersey will be the seventh one to be retired by the Baylor women’s program.
Other Teammates Honored Also
She will be joining two of her former teammates, Odyssey Sims and Melissa Jones, in this honor. Collen stated in a release that she has been pushing for Griner to receive this recognition since she joined Baylor. Collen wanted to ensure that the timing was right, and with the opening of Foster Pavilion and the WNBA offseason fitting into their season, this seemed like the perfect time to welcome Griner back home and honor her. Brittney is one of the greatest basketball players in Baylor’s history, and they are thrilled that the time has come to celebrate her and all of her accomplishments.