By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — She knew her timing was less than ideal, and Mary-Anna Asare felt some nerves when she approached her new head coach. Would it be OK, Asare asked Aaron Roussell, if she left town in September to play for Canada in FIBA’s 3x3 U23 World Cup in China?
That would mean missing about two weeks’ worth of workouts and fall practices, and Roussell, who’s in his first year as head women’s basketball coach at the University of Virginia, could tell Asare was stressed about the situation. She need not have worried.
“God’s honest truth, whether it's for Team USA or any country, I've always said if you can do anything with your national team, it's a no-brainer,” Rousell said before a recent practice at JPJ. “You need to be doing it.”
Roussell was “so supportive,” Asare said. “I was so nervous bringing the idea to him, but one thing he told me, ‘You never say no to your national team,’ and I appreciated that a lot.”
Asare is pursuing a master’s degree in the School of Education and Human Development. Like Roussell, her professors had no objections to her short leave of absence. “They were like, ‘Go have fun. We'll figure everything out when you get back,’ ” Asare said.
Her trip to Wahun, China, included several flights, one of which lasted about 15 hours, and that wasn’t much fun for Asare. Overall, though, the experience couldn’t have gone much better for her. A transfer from Virginia Commonwealth University, Asare helped Canada earn its first-ever medal at the tournament.
“It’s always an honor to represent your country,” she said after Canada fell to the United States in the World Cup final. “It was obviously not the result we wanted, but we fought as a team, picked up each other up when we were down, and came up with a medal. It means so much to write history for Canada.”
Asare, a 5-foot-8 guard, was named to the all-tournament team after leading all scorers with 47 points in the competition. The games were played halfcourt and held outdoors. The three-on-three format presents new challenges, Asare said.
“If you can't guard, if you can't play with people, it exposes you a lot,” she said. “But I think that's one of the reasons why I love it.”
Shoutout to @maarryy_11 on her performance leading all scorers in the 2026 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup! Team Canada won their first-ever silver medal at the event! ⚔️ #GoHoos https://t.co/MsA9s6rNkn
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) September 21, 2026
Asare was born and raised in the Toronto area. Hockey is a passion for many Canadians, but she quickly learned it wasn’t for her. As a girl, Asare said, “I tried skating and I broke my wrist. So I never went back to skating.”
She chose VCU in part because its women’s basketball program included several other Canadians. “So it kind of felt like home.”
Asare started 16 games for VCU as a freshman in 2022-23 and 30 games as a sophomore. As a junior, she was named to the All-Atlantic 10 second team after leading the Rams in scoring (16.0 ppg) and also averaging 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
Her highlights that season included a 37-point outburst against Duquesne.
A knee injury cut short Asare’s 2025-26 season, and she received a medical redshirt that gave her another year of eligibility. She enjoyed her time at VCU but wanted to test herself at a Power-4 program, and so she began looking for a new home for 2026-27.
“My biggest thing going into the [transfer] portal was, it was going to be my last year,” Asare said, “and I wanted to be somewhere where I knew I could make an immediate impact and also still develop as a player, because I always have room to grow.”
She and Roussell already were familiar with each other. He’d come to UVA in April after seven seasons as head coach at the University of Richmond. The Spiders also compete in the Atlantic 10, and they face VCU twice every regular season.
“Obviously, when you're at Richmond, you know a lot of things going on at VCU,” Roussell said. “When Mary injured early in the year, we kind of assumed that she was going to look for that fifth year [elsewhere]. She was somebody that was always on my radar.”
By the time he contacted her, however, Asare had already narrowed her choices to Colorado and Texas A&M, and she told Roussell it was too late for UVA to get in the mix. But he persisted, reminding her that they’d known each other for years, and invited her to check out the University.
“I was just like, ‘Sure, why not? What’s one more visit?’ ” Asare said. “And I loved it here. I don't know if it's because it was just so natural the way it happened. They weren't throwing stuff at me. It's like what I saw is what I got, and I think I really appreciated how genuine they were to me.”
Of the Cavaliers’ approach, Roussell said, “I think it was just us trying to be natural and open up the window to what our program was going to be. I definitely think our personalities matched right away.”
Roussell didn’t have any substantive conversations with Asare when she was at VCU, but he’s known many of the coaches who have worked with her over the years, “so I always held her in a high regard,” he said. “When you're watching players, I think you sometimes get a feel, especially for the best players on the other team, just seeing how they carry themselves.”