The Next Generation: Saylor Poffenbarger is shining in her new basketball home

Saylor Poffenbarger has found a new basketball home at the University of Arkansas, thriving with skill, versatility and dedication.

Saylor Poffenbarger was a big win for Arkansas. Before entering the transfer portal in November 2021 and joining Arkansas, the 6-foot-2 guard played in 12 games for UConn.

“She lit us up,” said Mike Neighbors, Arkansas coach, as reported by Christina Long of Times Record. “It’s really good to have kids in that role, because they can play loose and free.”

Brought up in Middletown, Maryland, Poffenbarger’s household thrived in competition. She grew up with four brothers every family game night was a battle. Poffenbarger learned about winning ways very in life.

While her older brother, Reese Poffenbarger, is a starting quarterback at Albany and her younger brothers are involved in sports too, the impact her brother Fordham had on her is invaluable. He passed away at the age of four in a road accident. Saylor was just six-years-old. The experience gave her something to fight for, as reported by the Arkansas Traveller.

“It made me realize how small every other problem is in the world, and it forced me to keep going,” Poffenbarger said. “I think every day we wake up and we have stress, we have things on our minds, but we get to do it. For me, the biggest thing is being able to push through on days I don’t really want to do stuff because I have the ability to do it. It taught me to always live for him because I know he would be an athlete.”

Poffenbarger got a dream start to her college basketball career when she got drafted with UConn under coach Geno Auriemma. Poffenbarger appeared in 12 games for the Huskies and scored six points with four rebounds. She did not play with the team later because of a shin injury.

However, according to multiple reports, she was not entirely happy with her time there. Her mother,  her mother told the Frederick News Post that “it wasn’t just about basketball.”

“It’s been a conversation, and it’s not all basketball,” Amy Poffenbarger said, as reported by the News Post. “The academic [side] wasn’t super-engaging, there wasn’t much to the campus life, and there wasn’t the ability to get out and meet a lot of people. Unfortunately that part of college life … that part wasn’t happening for her.”

What makes Saylor Poffenbarger a stand-out player?

Poffenbarger’s UConn coach wished her well on her transfer. “Saylor is a great person who has a lot of potential. Wherever she goes, she’ll be able to reach her goals and benefit her future home,” he said in a statement. “We wish Saylor and her family the best as she continues her career.”

Poffenbarger thus took the opportunity to transfer to Arkansas in 2021. She had to wait to join her team, the Razorbacks, on the court until the 2022-23 season. To her advantage, she received four years of eligibility.

And boy, did she not let that go to waste!

Since Poffenbarger arrived at Arkansas, her impact has been evident.  She started in all 31 games this 2022-23 season and won the SEC Freshman of the Week award five times creating a school record. She leads the league with an 8.7 points average and 6.6 rebounds per game average. With 71 assists in the season, she’s in third place on her team for total assists.

A couple of weeks into March, Poffenbarger was named to the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team.

As reported by Gabriella Lewis of The Next, Poffenbarger’s coach believes her defensive skills to be a strength for the team and herself.

“Our defense went for like 300 [this season] something in the country to top 15. If you were asking me to pinpoint one thing, it would be [Poffenbarger]. She’s been able to guard such a variety of offensive players, she’s an unbelievable rebounder, she’s got great awareness and is a great fixer and a talker,” Neighbors said. “Of the golden retrievers, she might be the leader of the pack. She really is a golden retriever.”

Poffenbarger’s game improvement has a lot to do with her mental health. Being able to play with the Razorbacks has potentially helped her regain her confidence. The support from her coach and teammates has been visibly solid.

As reported by Christina Long of Times Record, Poffenbarger said that “The welcoming here, by myself, was way different than the previous,” she said. “I don’t think (teammates) necessarily look at it as I’ve only been here for two weeks. They’re just as excited as I am, and I think that helps a lot.”

.”Coming from somewhere that you leave, you have the worry of, ‘I hope it doesn’t happen somewhere else,'” Poffenbarger said. “The recruiting process can be a lot of what you want to hear, and they don’t necessarily tell you everything. …  How great everything’s been, it’s just been a lot of reassurance. Like, ‘OK, I really did make the right decision.”

Poffenbarger’s spirit and determination are what keep her going. She didn’t have much playing time at UConn, suffered an injury, and then had to sit out for a year before taking the court again. Her personal struggles with losing her brother and reasons for transferring from the likes of UConn play a huge role in her shaping her approach towards the game. While her numbers and statistics speak for themselves, it is just the start for her. With another three years of college basketball lined up, Poffenbarger’s journey to being one of the bests in the league has just begun.

“I went two years without playing a game, I was just practicing,” Poffenbarger said in an interview with the Arkansas Traveller. “Sometimes you get caught up in wondering if it’s going to pay off because practice gets repetitive. For me, (the success) just kind of helped me realize that what I was doing is working. When you practice every day and you’re not playing games and not seeing results, it’s hard to see that and feel that. Getting this success has shown me that everything I’ve done is paying off and to keep going.”

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