‘It’s been a really positive thing for me:’ Saylor Poffenbarger settling in on and off the court at UConn after enrolling early in Storrs
Saylor Poffenbarger wants to do great things at UConn one day. It’s what she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl, watching her idol, Maya Moore, and the program take home championship after championship after championship.
But for now, she’s content with just being in Storrs and learning the ropes. And the beauty of her current situation is that’s basically all that’s expected of her.
Poffenbarger, a 6-foot-2 guard out of Middletown, Md., and the 30th-ranked prospect in her class, joined the Huskies last month after graduating high school a semester early. She’s the seventh freshman on the team, but unlike the others, didn’t have a whole summer to get acclimated to the program.
“It’s definitely been a lot. It’s kind of been a little overwhelming, but it’s not a negative thing. It’s been a really positive thing for me,” Poffenbarger said Tuesday. “I kind of saw it as an opportunity to get started early and come up here and learn the ways and the ins and outs of everything, but without pressure.
“My job is just to come every day and try as hard as I can, go through all the drills as hard as I can, but I’m not necessarily expected to do anything ... it’s been a lot of learning.”
The No. 3 Huskies take on Big East Conference foe St. John’s Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast on SNY.
Poffenbarger’s transition to college life wasn’t the easiest. She wasn’t able to join the team until she completed a 10-day quarantine, and the first three days she was confined to her room. Eventually, she was able to work out on her own and was cleared to join the team by the middle of last week. She made the Huskies’ road trip to Arkansas and then Chicago, appearing in her first collegiate game Sunday at DePaul.
Teammate Paige Bueckers told her to shoot the ball every time she passed it to her, and Poffenbarger did just that, rattling off three three-point attempts in a minute, 52 seconds.
“I was definitely really nervous, but I was kind of glad to just get it over with,” she said. “Paige is a really good teammate. It’s really nice to know those are my teammates and the people that I’m going to spend three or four years with.”
Bueckers isn’t the only one to welcome her in with open arms. Poffenbarger said the upperclassmen have been extremely helpful, and the other freshmen assure her that some of the questions or slip-ups she’s had are the same ones they had six or seven months ago when they first got to campus. The whole team weathered the snowstorm this week to help her move to her new dorm on Monday.
“They don’t have to go out of their way to make sure that I’m comfortable in this position,” Poffenbarger said. “It’s really exciting for me to be able to look forward to joining a team like that, the way that they interact, the way they care about each other.”
Poffenbarger is trying to maintain realistic expectations for her “Year 0 1/4 u2033 (this year does not count against her eligibility since it is essentially a free year for all college basketball players). Not only was she thrown into the fire midseason, but UConn is gearing up for several road trips this month and postseason play is right around the corner.
Coach Geno Auriemma has told her to focus for now on her defense, rebounding, shooting when open and above all else, her effort.
“I think where I’m at, hustling and playing hard, playing good defense and focusing on those things will get me where I need to be,” Poffenbarger said. “[Auriemma] pulled me aside and was saying, ‘Just make sure that you control what you can control, how hard you play defense and how hard you rebound.’”
In the long run, Poffenbarger knows she can help this team. Her versatility and potential to create mismatch opportunities were one of the things that excited Auriemma most about her and the rest of the 2021 kids. She mentioned that among her strengths, along with her shooting, passing and rebounding.
Luckily for Poffenbarger, these next few months give her a head start to becoming the player she wants to be.
“I definitely think [arriving early] is going to be really beneficial to me,” Poffenbarger said. “When you come here, you have to learn your role, learn how to practice every day, learn how to go hard in every drill, learning all those things while still doing what you do best. I think that’s what takes players a little bit to get into their role. You have to learn their coaching style, what they’re going to put up with, what they’re not going to put up with, while learning everything else. And I think with this year, it’s just allowing me the time to learn it all.”
Notes
UConn junior Christyn Williams was named one of 10 candidates for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given to the nation’s top shooting guard. UConn 2021 signee Azzi Fudd was tabbed as one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith High School Girls Player of the Year award.
2021 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Candidates*
Aari McDonald: Arizona
Chelsea Dungee: Arkansas
Christyn Williams: Connecticut
Sonya Morris: DePaul
Dana Evans: Louisville
Ashley Owusu: Maryland
Arella Guirantes: Rutgers
Zia Cooke: South Carolina
Kiana Williams: Stanford
Charisma Osborne: UCLA
*Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2020-21 season
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com
