{"id":637613,"date":"2026-03-03T23:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637613\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T23:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:17:14","slug":"former-byu-cougar-tanner-toolson-thriving-for-upstart-tcu-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637613\/","title":{"rendered":"Former BYU Cougar Tanner Toolson thriving for upstart TCU \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 During his first season at TCU, Tanner Toolson has mostly come off the bench, averaging 8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 21.1 minutes each night. However, the former BYU Cougar<\/a> feels the best is yet to come for him and the Horned Frogs (19-10, 9-7 Big 12), who are very much in the mix for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got here, I didn\u2019t know how this year would go. Obviously, things haven\u2019t been perfect,\u201d Toolson, a junior, said. \u201cWe\u2019ve dropped a few games, and I haven\u2019t played as well as I thought I was going to at times and haven\u2019t shot as well as I thought I was going to. But as the season goes on, all you can do is keep showing up, keep fighting. It\u2019s worked out well for us. We\u2019re getting hot at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cougar fans remember Toolson, one of four sons of ex-BYU great Andy Toolson<\/a> \u2014 who starred in Provo as a player before returning as an assistant coach between 2001 and 2005 following a 10-year pro career \u2014 and following in his father\u2019s footsteps at BYU during the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately, Tanner\u2019s time in Provo was limited to six games due to a season-ending injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year, it was very up-and-down. I obviously came back injured off a mission and that set me back,\u201d Toolson recalled. \u201cI ended up medical redshirting, so it was really hard mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Toolson treasures his mission experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the most important part was my testimony of Jesus Christ and my beliefs but also the values and lessons of hard work and determination and the value of putting your faith in something,\u201d he said of his mission. \u201cThat was very important for me in my life, and I would never regret it. I\u2019m so glad I did it. Even though it set me back basketball-wise, it was important for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once his freshman season at BYU concluded, he entered the NCAA transfer portal and the 2020 Washington State Player of the Year landed at Utah Valley University, where he spent two seasons furthering the Toolson legacy there after older brother Conner and cousins Jake and Ryan also played for the Wolverines.<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah Valley’s Tanner Toolson (5) drives to the basket during the Wolverines’ 68-55 win over Seattle in the WAC men’s basketball tournament semifinals at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 14, 2025. | Jay Drowns, UVU Marketing <\/p>\n

And Tanner one-upped them all by helping UVU to the 2025 WAC regular-season title, their first in program history. That success served as a nice springboard for him landing at TCU, which is coached by former Horned Frog legend Jamie Dixon, long considered one of the top coaches in the college game. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very hard-nosed coach and that\u2019s my play style. I love to go out there and do the things that other people don\u2019t want to do like diving on the floor, crashing the offensive glass, and putting my nose in there fighting with the big guys,\u201d Toolson said of Dixon. \u201cHe appreciates that. That\u2019s something I value in a coach and a competitor in general. I feel like I\u2019ve been able to mold that into my identity on this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 14, 2026, he and the Horned Frogs traveled to the Marriott Center to face the Cougars, his first trip back to Provo since his freshman year at BYU. TCU lost 76-70 and Toolson had seven points in 24 minutes, but the experience was overwhelmingly positive thanks to the legions of fans he had in attendance. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to come back there and play in the place that I started my college career at was a pretty cool experience. It\u2019s pretty crazy how the cards worked out for me to be in the Big 12,\u201d Toolson said. \u201cIt was awesome. I had a ton of family, a ton of friends there and a lot of people that I got to see after the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"TCU guard Tanner Toolson, right, drives to the basket against BYU guard Richie Saunders (15) during game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Provo, Utah. | AP <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just fun to be able to be in that environment where I was familiar and put a lot of work in my freshman year. It was fun to see old teammates like Richie (Saunders),\u201d he continued. \u201cObviously, sad to see him go down (with a season-ending injury), but it was awesome to play in that environment before so many people I\u2019ve known for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, TCU defeated Kansas State 77-68 on the road, the Horned Frogs\u2019 sixth win in their last seven games. Toolson chipped in 14 points, putting him over 1,000 points for his college career, a nice waypoint for the ex-Cougar but far from where he wants his team or career to finish. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt (1,000 points) signifies the work that you\u2019ve put in. I\u2019ve obviously not thought about it a ton to be honest, but I was aware of it and it\u2019s a cool milestone to reach in college,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be able to do that in three years of play is pretty cool. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love competing. That\u2019s been my calling card since day one. I have four brothers and a sister. I\u2019m the fifth out of six children. I\u2019ve been competing against my older brothers (for a long time). I lost a lot in my childhood. It\u2019s made me a fiery competitor. I love the feeling of being down in a game or being counted out and proving everybody wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Tanner Toolson<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something to be celebrated, but not something to hang your hat on because I think we\u2019ve (still) got a lot to do as a team. It\u2019s a pretty cool honor, but not the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season, Toolson has delivered two 20-point games, including one against Arizona on Jan. 10 when the Wildcats were ranked No. 1. He also has one double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in a 62-55 upset win against fifth-ranked Iowa State on Feb. 28 in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

A basketball family<\/p>\n

No matter where he\u2019s played, there has always been one constant for Tanner Toolson \u2014 his strong competitive drive, an inner fire he attributes largely to growing up in a true basketball family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love competing. That\u2019s been my calling card since day one,\u201d Toolson said. \u201cI have four brothers and a sister. I\u2019m the fifth out of six children. I\u2019ve been competing against my older brothers (for a long time). I lost a lot in my childhood. It\u2019s made me a fiery competitor. I love the feeling of being down in a game or being counted out and proving everybody wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once TCU\u2019s season ends, he has another big date on his calendar as he and his fianc\u00e9e, Lauren Roberts, will get married in May after Tanner proposed to her over the recent winter break. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge blessing in my life. I\u2019m super, super grateful for my fianc\u00e9e, my fianc\u00e9e\u2019s family,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve made it super, super easy to love them. They\u2019ve been super supportive of my basketball career. They\u2019ve been super supportive of us, so I\u2019m just super grateful for that and for a huge life change going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah forward James Okonkwo (32) prepares to go up with the ball while guarded by TCU Horned Frogs guard Tanner Toolson (55) during a game held at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 During his first season at TCU, Tanner Toolson has mostly come off the bench,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,1111],"class_list":{"0":"post-637613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-news-feed-local"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116167801296999993","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}