Every athlete has a game day routine, and Colorado State women’s basketball guard McKenna Hofschild’s is no different: attend classes online, get up a few shots, eat a pregame meal and listen to some music.
What is unique, however, is the way the 5-foot-2 guard can center every ounce of focus onto the task at hand — winning a basketball game.
“When she’s especially locked in, you can feel it,” CSU teammate Sydney Mech said. “She doesn’t even have to say anything, itap just her presence. You know when itap going to be a good game, and if she’s in that mindset, we’re there, too.”
That singular drive has been the bedrock of a CSU career that may not have gone exactly to plan but has almost certainly exceeded expectations.
Hofschild’s ability to score was essential, and the primary reason Rams head coach Ryun Williams recruited her to Fort Collins.
Climbing to the top of CSU’s all-time assists leaderboard as she did in November, though, wasn’t something anyone saw coming four years ago when she transferred from Seton Hall. If anything, itap a testament to her drive to round out her own play style, making her teammates and herself better in the process.
“When we recruited her, I think she was more of a two-guard and she still is; thatap why she’s such an elite scorer,” Williams said. “But now, she’s added the point guard play and the point guard mindset to it, and I think thatap what makes her one of the more special guards in the entire country.”
“Locked in”
With headphones on and a straight face, itap strictly business pregame.
Hofschild said her music of choice varies, but two songs remain on the playlist no matter what: “Dreams and Nightmares” by Meek Mill and “Murder On My Mind” by YNW Melly.
Meek Mill’s hit makes sense — upbeat, inspirational, almost makes you want to run through a brick wall. But “Murder On My Mind?” A more interesting choice.
Obviously, murder isn’t really on Hofschild’s mind before games, but what she’s able to do to some defenses on the court isn’t far off.
“Mentally, itap just trying to always be prepared, be locked in,” Hofschild said. “The biggest thing for me is to know the game plan through and through because then I don’t have to think about it; I’ve already gone through all the steps and all the motions.”
That “locked in” mentality is something Williams says has grown over time at CSU.
“She has really learned how to lead the group, you know. I think thatap where she’s really grown,” Williams said. “I see her making sure everybody is organized to start the game. We usually get off to some pretty good starts because (Hofschild) is ready to go.”
In struggling to encapsulate what makes Hofschild the type of player she is, Williams described it as playing with a “bring-it-on personality” many players can’t replicate.
Similar to how the ball moves in the Rams’ offense, her focus is often contagious. For Mech — a graduate guard who transferred to CSU from Denver the same year Hofschild did — there’s almost no choice but to absorb some of Hofschild’s energy and land in a similar state of mind.
“She’s the leader on the floor,” Mech said, “so we build off of that.”
The passing eye
Since assists require teammates to make a basket, itap considerably more helpful for those around Hofschild to be on the same page.
No stranger to getting her own buckets with a career average of 17.9 points at CSU, the Prior Lake, Minn., native says her assist record is as much a team achievement as it is an individual one.
In many ways, the statistic is a measure of team success. The ball is moving, the offense is flowing and shots are being knocked down.
For Hofschild, the real delight comes from masterminding that sort of offense, rather than being a one-woman show.
“Itap funny because if I was breaking a record in high school, it was for points and now, if I’m breaking records, itap for assists,” Hofschild said. “I think itap just one of the ways I’ve tried to elevate my game; I really took on the role of wanting to make my teammates better and put them in a position to succeed, and the assists have come with that. So I think itap a role I’ve grown into and one I look for more and now when I get an assist, I’m happier than when I score a basket myself.”
Hofschild averaged 13 points and five assists in her first season as a Ram. Through 11 games this season — her fourth at CSU — she’s averaging 22 points and close to nine assists.
Though Hofschild gets buckets on a nightly basis, her passing game has boosted the team’s scoring to a degree Williams never expected. She’s effectively transformed into the best of both worlds.
“I don’t really want her to be a pass-first guard, I want her to be — and she’s always been — that scorer,” Williams said. “Thatap what we’ve based our offense around, but the fact she’s added that to her game and really knows how to distribute and when to pass and when to score, itap not easy to do.”
Atop the summit
Hofschild, of course, makes it look easy.
The assist that put her over the top in the Rams’ record books wasn’t particularly noteworthy by itself. But in many ways, it encapsulated the grit and vision she utilizes at near-lightning speeds.
It came in the Rams’ 92-56 victory over South Dakota Mines on Nov. 21: a sneaky steal, then a long pass on the fastbreak to teammate Cali Clark for an easy layup, her ninth of 14 assists on the night, breaking the all-time assist record held by Rams great Ellen Nystrom (584) since 2017.
The pass was simple, the basket even simpler, but the achievement couldn’t have been much more profound.
Hofschild now owns every assist record there is to have at CSU, be it a single game, single season or entire career. An ample reward for her level of fixation on the basketball court.
“I’m very honored because I know the players and point guards who have gone through this program are very elite,” Hofschild said. “You’ve got Ellen and obviously Becky (Hammon), so to be at the top of a list like that is very meaningful to me.”
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