Andraya Carter

Andraya Carter
Carter in 2024
Born (1993-11-12) November 12, 1993 (age 31)
Flowery Branch, Georgia, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Tennessee
Occupation(s)Analyst, co-host
Employer(s)ESPN, SEC Network
SpouseBre Austin[1]

Andraya Nichole Carter (born November 12, 1993) is an analyst and reporter for ESPN/SEC Network coverage of college basketball, college football, and the WNBA. She was a co-host for Out of Pocket with Alyssa Lang until 2023. She started working as a sideline reporter for the NBA on ESPN in 2023.

Carter is also a former player of Tennessee Lady Volunteers Basketball.

Early life and playing career

Carter was born in Flowery Branch, Georgia. She went to school and played basketball at Buford High School (Georgia) playing for the legendary coach Gene Durden, who also taught her multimedia presentations class.[2]

She was one of the driving forces behind three straight Class 2A state championships for the Lady Wolves (2009–2011), averaging 13 points per game in those seasons. She ended up missing her senior season due to injuries. Despite this, she was still ranked the No. 21 prospect nationally by espnW.com for the class of 2012.

She accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Tennessee women's basketball team.[3] She was a fan of the Lady Vols and coach Pat Summitt prior to joining them. She was one of the last players to sign with Summitt.[4] Carter played five games in the 2012–13 season before being redshirted due to injury.[5] She was named to the SEC All-Freshmen Team for the 2013–14 season and led the conference in steals with 80 in the 2014–15 season. Mounting injuries forced her to retire after her redshirt junior season in 2015–16 ending her dreams of playing in the WNBA. Carter averaged 6.4 points per game and had 199 steals in her Vol Career.

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

College

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2012–13 Tennessee 7 5 20.6 36.7 37.5 90.0 1.6 1.9 1.3 0.1 1.4 5.3
2013–14 Tennessee 35 21 26.3 45.7 39.4 69.2 2.7 2.3 1.6 0.2 1.4 6.9
2014–15 Tennessee 35 31 30.0 38.9 34.1 67.9 3.1 2.1 2.3 0.4 1.3 7.7
2015–16 Tennessee 36 25 26.2 35.8 25.4 80.0 2.3 1.7 1.5 0.3 1.7 4.8
Career 113 82 27.1 40.0 33.8 72.9 2.6 2.0 1.8 0.3 1.5 6.4
Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[6]

Broadcasting career

In 2016 after ending her basketball career, she was looking for what to do after basketball when she was approached on campus by "The Vol For Life" production team about calling Tennessee basketball games online for ESPN3. Carter was given some games the following season, which led to a seasonal contract. She attended LaChina Robinson's Rising Media Stars media boot camp for women.[7] She also covered the NBA G League as an analyst,[8] and worked as an Orange Theory (fitness center) instructor. In 2022, she was named a sideline reporter for SEC Network's coverage of college football.

In 2024, Carter was an ESPN basketball analyst for the Women's Final Four along with Chiney Ogwumike and Elle Duncan. The women's NCAA championship game was the most-watched women's basketball game on record and drew a bigger television audience than the men's title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and Caitlin Clark. The trio were called "the big three"[9] on social media due to their impact on the growth of women's basketball.

References

  1. ^ Choudhary, Priyanshu (2024-03-03). "Is Andraya Carter married?". sportskeeda. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  2. ^ Brandon Sudge. "Andraya Carter's path from Buford player to ESPN's rising media 'star'". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  3. ^ Robert Alfonso Jr. "Growing up in Flowery Branch, Andraya Carter always wanted a life that revolved around basketball. Now, she's found it as a broadcaster with ESPN". gainesvilletimes.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Conversations with the Inspiring Andraya Carter". voyageatl.com. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  5. ^ Trenton Duffer (3 August 2016). "Andraya Carter ends basketball career". utdailybeacon.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Andraya Carter College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  7. ^ Knox, Rob (2024-04-12). "Andraya Carter elevates women's basketball". The Next. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  8. ^ Amanda Brooks (2 April 2021). "Andraya Carter Cites Her Four Favorite Moments From The 2021 Basketball Season". espnfrontrow.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  9. ^ bethmaiman (2024-04-04). "Why ESPN's women's basketball studio show squad is entertaining us all". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2024-04-16.