New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Polley’s career has been one wild ride
Senior has seen a lot as a Husky
Tyler Polley’s career at UConn truly hit the ground running. He started his first five games as a freshman, something Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier or James Bouknight can’t say they did.
As Polley’s collegiate career winds down, with likely his final home game approaching on Saturday, he finds himself as a role player off the bench — something that’s taken some adjusting to.
“I’m not gonna lie,” his mother, Kim Rogers, said. “He’s struggled with that.”
In between, it’s been a wild ride for Polley: a coaching change following his freshman year; seasonending knee injury as a junior; backyard yoga rehab in the midst of a pandemic; high-scoring games, lowscoring games, no-scoring games.
This season is somewhat of a microcosm of Polley’s career. He barely played and scored nary a point against USC on Dec. 3. Two games later, he poured in a careerhigh 24 at Marquette, followed by 19 at Butler. On Wednesday night at Seton Hall, Polley played 13 min
utes and didn’t register a point, rebound, assist or steal.
And consider this: Tyler Polley has won a Big East Player of the Week award. Bouknight can’t say he’s done that, either.
“Overall, I have loved him at UConn,” Rogers said by phone from her home in Miramar, Florida. “It was a great choice for him. He’s graduating in the spring. He came in and did exactly what he needed to do academically, which makes me extremely proud. Everyone at UConn, as far as basketball goes, has been great to Tyler.”
And yet there’s this feeling, according to Rogers, that it wasn’t quite the experience he thought it might be.
“To be honest, I think he expected something different, basketball-wise,” she said. “Not that it was UConn’s fault at all, but just a lot of factors that he didn’t consider and think about. Especially when the injury happened. It just kind of took a toll on him mentally.”
It’s been a rocky road, according to Tyler’s father, Tommy, the former Florida State star linebacker who played five seasons in the NFL with St. Louis and Baltimore.
“But his maturation has gotten better, and his outlook on life has gotten better,” Tommy noted. “So, by going through the ups and downs, that made him a little stronger than he probably was before he got to college. It’s been good and it’s been bad, but it’s something he can learn from and grow from.”
And now it’s winding down, with Saturday’s final home game, followed by next week’s Big East tournament and, in all likelihood, Polley’s first trip to the NCAA tournament. Plenty of work to be done before Polley’s collegiate career comes to an end.
Or will it? Like all seniors this year, Polley has been granted an extra year of eligibility, due to the mess that COVID-19 has created.
He can return next season and not count against UConn’s 13-scholarship allotment.
It’s a decision his mom admits has been weighing on the 6-foot-9 senior. A little over a week ago, Polley, his mother and coaches Dan Hurley and Tom Moore met virtually to discuss the situation. Rogers, Hurley and Moore also spoke on a separate call.
“He’s been very stressed about making a decision,” Rogers noted. “I told him we can revisit that after the season. That’s the same thing the coaches told him: ‘Relax, have fun, enjoy your senior season. Whatever you decide to do, you have good options and we’ll revisit that after the season.’”
Asked about his future plans on Thursday afternoon, Polley was non-committal.
“We’re a special team,” he said. “We can do something amazing this year. I’ll just worry about that after the season’s over.”
Polley, of course, could elect to begin a professional career. There’s also the option of playing at another school as a grad transfer, though that would seem somewhat unlikely.
“I think Tyler would stay here forever,” said mom. “I really do.”
‘WELCOME TO THE TORN KNEE CLUB’
Unlike the nomadic nature of so many high school and college players these days, Tyler Polley typically finishes what he’s started. He played at the same high school — The Sagemont School in Weston, Florida — for all four years, never electing to transfer to a prep program.
“He’s not one of those kids that likes to move around,” said Adam Ross, Polley’s coach at Sagemont. “He tends to stick.”
That’s true in more ways than one, as Polley has emerged as one of the better long-distance shooters in recent UConn history, shooting 42 percent from 3-point range as a freshman and 41 percent last season.
He’s also remained a Husky through thick and thin, never opting to transfer, even after Kevin Ollie, the coach who recruited him, was fired following Polley’s freshman season.
Ross remembers having conversations with Polley and his parents about whether he should stay.
“Tyler was the one who insisted that he should,” Ross recalled. “For him, it was pretty immediate. He knew he wanted to stay.”
Polley’s mom recalled “a different look in his eye” when he made his recruiting visit to UConn.
“I think Tyler’s just always wanted to play in a UConn uniform,” Rogers said.
Last season, Polley had the best game of his career to that point, notching his first double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds in a Jan. 8 win over Tulane. The following day in practice, he tore the ACL in his left knee , ending his season.
“Welcome to the TornKnee Club,” Tommy said to his son the following day.
Indeed, Tommy tore up his knee while at Florida State. Tommy’s father, Mike Jones, who played college basketball at the University of Hartford in the early 1980s, also suffered a serious knee injury, as did some of Tommy’s siblings who played professional basketball, including Brionna Jones, a forward for the Connecticut Sun.
Still, it meant a grueling rehab process for Tyler — especially since most of it had to be done at his Miramar home, after UConn shut down to the pandemic.
AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE
Polley would get up each day at 7 a.m. and do backyard yoga, dribble the ball out on the patio, do poolwork at his aunt’s house, come back home at night and watch video virtually with trainer James Doran. Once restrictions eased up a bit in Florida in the early summer, Polley was able to rehab at a friend’s nearby gym.
Through it all, his goal was to be back for the season opener. He met that goal, but it wasn’t easy.
“He called me in November,” Rogers recalled, “and said, ‘Mom, I had no idea coming back from injury was this hard. I just don’t feel 100 percent.’”
“I thought it was gonna be easy, at first,” Polley admitted. “But I struggled in practice and the first couple of games.”
Indeed, his early-season performance early was shaky. He went scoreless in 15 minutes against Hartford, lost his starting role and played just four scoreless minutes the next game against USC. Then came COVID-19 pauses and shutdowns.
Few could have predicted what happened on Jan. 5 at Marquette.
With the Huskies trailing by 18 in the first half and Bouknight shaken up by an elbow injury that would eventually sideline him for six weeks, Polley popped off the bench, hit five 3-pointers for a career-best 24 points as UConn rallied back for an 11-point win.
Mom called the next day. “Wow, what happened? You were great!”
“I don’t know,” Tyler responded. “It was almost like an out-of-body experience. This is the first time I feel 100 percent.”
Looking back on that week, Polley said: “Coming back, it was like, ‘Can I play at the Big East level?’ So, having that stretch of games was huge for my confidence. It’s something I’ll always remember, for sure. I never thought I’d be Big East Player of the Week, ever. So, when it happened, it was a great accomplishment.”
Rogers will be in the stands on Saturday along with her husband, Alvin, and Tyler’s little brother, Ali. Tommy, whose relationship with Tyler has improved in recent years, hopes to be there, as well.
It will probably be the final UConn home game for Tyler Polley, along with Isaiah Whaley and Josh Carlton.
“It just went by so fast,” said Polley. “It’s surreal, but I think I’m ready for it.”
“He’s had a great experience at UConn,” added mom. “I wouldn’t change it.”