Mississippi forward Tia Faleru (32) shoots past Florida guard Kayla Lewis (22) during an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014. (DM Photo/Ignacio Murillo)
Senior women’s basketball player Tia Faleru will be the first to tell you that basketball changed her life. Growing up in Ozark, Alabama, Faleru was a troublemaker — in and out of trouble with no direction until one day she bought a basketball. Faleru’s grandmother gave her five dollars for helping her clean up, and she decided to buy a basketball and from that moment on Tia Faleru was a different person.
The Tia Faleru that most people know led the SEC in rebounding in 2013-14 with 9.4 rebounds per game and was the third-leading scorer in the nation’s premier women’s basketball conference with 16.4 points per game, while leading the Ole Miss women’s basketball team to wins over Mississippi State and a thrilling win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament.
Basketball is Faleru’s outlet. Things haven’t always been easy for Faleru, but once she steps onto the court, everything seems to fall into place.
“Basketball mean’s everything to me,” said Faleru. “Basketball has gotten me to where I am today. It’s kept me out of trouble, kept my head on straight, and it’s my outlet to everything that’s going on – all the bad and all the good. When I have a lot on my mind, I can just go to the court, and it feels like everything is uplifted. Basketball is my outlet.”
When you watch Faleru on the court, you can tell that she’s at ease there. She easily slices through opponent defenses to get to the rim and rebounds each and every ball as if it’s her very last time on the court. Entering the 2014-15 season, Faleru is just 41 points away from becoming the 27th 1000-point scorer in program history, quite the feat seeing as she only averaged 8.3 career points entering her junior season and had started a total of one game.
Faleru credits her mother, Shirley, for being her inspiration. Shirley, too, played basketball, and Tia credits her mother with giving her a “grind” mentality.
“She’s the reason why I do everything that I do,” said Faleru. “I’ve seen her struggle. We’ve been struggling my whole life, and I feel like basketball could be my outlet for her as well, just to make sure that she doesn’t have to ever want for anything. I’m aiming for that because she means so much to me.”
When the senior forward reflects on her time at Ole Miss and the journey she’s taken to get to where she is today, she knows had it not been for a basketball scholarship to Ole Miss she would still be in Ozark, Alabama.
“If I wasn’t here at Ole Miss, I would be back at home,” said Faleru. “I really wasn’t thinking about playing ball. It was something that just happened. I had a lot of Division I schools after me, but Ole Miss was and still is the best fit for me.”
Since her time at Ole Miss, Faleru has experienced some ups and some downs. She and her classmates have played for four coaches in four years, but Faleru says it’s all a part of the journey.
“It’s been a long journey since I’ve been here at Ole Miss,” she said. “You learn from everything that you’ve been through and since I’ve been here each year, its been something different, but now that I’m in my senior year, it’s grind time, and I need to carry my team, and I’m very excited about this season.”
Faleru’s teammates have become her family in Oxford and without them she wouldn’t be having the success she has had.
“If I didn’t have my teammates, I couldn’t do any of the things I do on the court,” said Faleru. “I have to depend on them to get me the ball. I depend on them to make me laugh, bring me up when I’m down, and I have to be there for them.”
As she prepares to embark on her final season in the Ole Miss navy and red, she’s set some goals her herself and her team and doesn’t sell her team or her teammates short.
“I want to be SEC Player of the Year and a first team All-American,” said Faleru. “For our team, we want to be SEC Champions and play in the NCAA Tournament. We want to make a run in the tournament and get at least to the Elite Eight. I feel like with the belief we have in ourselves and our talent, we can do it.”
Faleru wants her legacy at Ole Miss to be rooted around her defensive skills, but also wants to be someone young girls can look up to.
“I want to be known for being not only a top rebounder here at Ole Miss, but as someone who some young girl looks up to and says ‘I want to be the next Tia Faleru’ If I can make a difference in someone’s life on that level, that would really stand out to me.”
She also hopes to make a difference in young people’s lives when she’s done playing, as she wants to get into coaching. Faleru dreams of being a legendary coach, like Tennessee’s Pat Summitt.
“I want to be a coach that has won national championships,” said Faleru. “Someone that everyone looks up to and respects both on and off the court.”
Reflecting back, Faleru thinks about advise she might give her younger self and it starts and ends with staying out of trouble. It’s a piece of advise that she gives to young basketball players that look up to her when she’s back home in Ozark.
“Stay out of trouble. Get your head on right and start thinking about your future early,” Faleru said. “Don’t wait until your senior year of high school when you’re in trouble to start thinking about a way out.”
Life won’t always be easy, but Faleru knows as long as she’s got a ball and a dream, she’ll be just fine.
