Desi-Rae Young

Personal: Young is the daughter of Beverly Williams and has one older brother and one younger sister. She was born in Inglewood, California, and majored in psychology at UNLV. Young started playing basketball at 12 years old.

At UNLV: Desi-Rae Young was a four-year letter winner at UNLV, where she started 120 of 124 games for the Rebels from 2020 to 2024. She was an Honorable Mention selection for the 2023-2024 WBCA All-America Team and a two-time Mountain West Conference Player of the Year honoree. Young was recognized as the 2020-2021 Mountain West Freshman of the Year. She earned three All-Mountain West certificates in addition to a pair of All-Defensive Team citations. She was also named to the Mountain West Championship All-Tournament Team three times, including Most Outstanding Player plaudits at the 2022-2023 event. During her career, she received 11 Mountain West Player of the Week awards and was a two-time semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award. Additionally, she was a top-10 finalist for the 2024 Lisa Leslie Award.

Young was one of two players in program history to score 2,000 career points and collect 1,000 career rebounds. She reached 1,000 career points in just 69 games, the fifth-fastest span in program history. She is the second-leading scorer in program history with 2,017 career points and ranks seventh on UNLV’s career scoring average list (16.3). She shot 56.2 percent from the field during her career, the second-highest mark in UNLV annals. Young stands fourth on UNLV’s career rebounds (1,081) and made free throws (408) ledgers. She paced the Rebels in scoring and rebounding three times during her career and was third in program history with 48 career double-doubles.

As a senior, Young started in all 33 games and paced UNLV in scoring (18.3), rebounding (9.1), field goal percentage (.568), and steals (44). She reached double figures in scoring 31 times, including 20 consecutive outings from December 21, 2023, to March 11, 2024. She erupted for a career-high 32 points on 14-of-23 shooting from the field in her 100th career game on December 9, 2023, against Oklahoma. She also established new program NCAA Tournament single-game marks by posting a 30-point outburst and 15 made field goals against Creighton on March 23, 2024. As a junior, she started in all 34 games and averaged 17.9 points and a career-best 10.1 rebounds per appearance. She led the Mountain West and ranked 10th in the nation with 18 double-doubles. During her sophomore year, she started 32 of 33 games, averaging 15.2 points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds per contest. She also paced the league with 12 double-doubles. Young opened her college career by averaging a team-high 12.7 points and 6.9 rebounds over 24 games. She also made 21 starts during her rookie campaign while shooting 51.1 percent from the field.