Penn Basketball: Former 5-Star TJ Power Rebuilding His Career

University of Pennsylvania forward TJ Power played the best game of his three-year college career on Monday, Nov. 17, putting up 25 points and 15 rebounds in his Big 5 debut against St. Joseph’s, an 83-74 win for the Quakers. 

A five-star recruit ranked as high as No. 17 in his graduating class, Power averaged less than ten minutes per game during his first two college seasons, struggling to catch on at Duke and Virginia before transferring to Penn. After the game, Power described what he learned during those ‘humbling’ years.

“I could go on for a long time about that and those two years. You learn a lot, I think, sitting the bench and seeing the game from that point of view, especially when you have expectations coming into college, it’s a humbling experience,” Power said.

“You just kind of learn how to love basketball for what it is. And college basketball has a lot of pros, but definitely has a lot of cons. And I’ve experienced that a lot. But I just kind of stuck with the love of basketball, the game itself, and I just kept working to get better and better.” 

Penn head coach Fran McCaffery recruited Power aggressively during his previous coaching stint at Iowa, building a strong relationship with the young recruit and his family before ultimately losing out to the Blue Devils; he tried again last season once Power hit the transfer portal but again fell short. 

“He Needed Somebody To Believe”

McCaffery described his special bond with Power, saying their early rapport helped him earn Power’s trust as he looked for a place to jump start his career. He also told Power to look at the lessons he learned from his first two years in college, helping Power to describe them as “a blessing in disguise.”

“I told him [when] he came here, I said ‘listen, those two years are gonna benefit you.’ You know, last year was kind of a lost year for him. Tony [former UVA head coach Tony Bennett] retires before the season starts,” McCaffery said. 

“So he went back in the portal. I think he felt like ‘you know what? I know coach [McCaffery] can help me. He needed somebody to believe that he was still there. I had seen it. Championship player in high school, unbelievable [in] AAU against the top players in the country, nobody could stop him. And you saw that tonight. So I just talked with him after the game, I said this is what I’m talking about. You can be the best player on this team, and I love you.”

Rebuilding Confidence

Besides learning to love the game of basketball, Power said that McCaffery’s player-friendly system at Penn helped him get back to his roots.

“Each game I play I’ve been getting more comfortable, and coach has just stayed on me to stay confident and keep shooting and keep playing the way I know how to play,” Power said. “I think it’s just trust. I think coach McCaffery’s system is made for the players, and a lot of our guys fall in love with it. You can see tonight, when we share the ball and feed the hot hand, it’s an easy system to get going in.”

Power said he’s also learning to block away the outside noise, focusing on the moment and his own effort above anything else.

“The Palestra is a really special place, and I didn’t have the performance I wanted in our first home game, so I had my mind set on settling in tonight and just feeling the energy in the crowd,” Power said. “And I think when I get lost in competing, the other parts of my game fall behind that. So I just focus on playing hard and let everything else fall behind.”