Through three years and three games, Kyla Irwin’s career-highs don’t exactly jump off the page. Her highest totals in each statistical category are: Nine points, four field goals, two threes, 10 rebounds, and five assists. As a senior with just three starts under her belt, Irwin has made her mark thus far as a practice contributor and vocal leader from the bench.
In this season’s fourth game, at home against Virginia, Irwin matched or bested all but one of those careers highs with 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting, with two threes, six rebounds and five assists.
As odd as it may sound, Irwin’s performance -- a game in which she contributed more overall than she had in any of her previous 94 -- was born out of doing less.
Irwin never expected to be at UConn. She was a three-star recruit coming out of high school and was mostly being recruited by lower-tier Power Five schools and mid-majors.
But Irwin appealed to Geno Auriemma. She had a reputation as a hard worker and was the daughter of a coach. Irwin was going to be a positive locker room presence and someone the coaching staff wouldn’t have to worry about. With plenty of scholarships available -- UConn never uses its full allotment of 15 -- there was minimal risk on the side of the Huskies to make a high-character addition to the roster. The coaching staff believed Irwin would make a positive impact on the team regardless of her playing time.
Throughout her first three seasons, Irwin lived up to that billing. Auriemma routinely praised her hard work and rewarded her for it when the opportunity presented itself, such as giving her two starts last season when Megan Walker was out instead of highly-touted freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
This season, she started the season opener in place of Anna Makurat because the coach felt confident in Irwin’s familiarity with the team strategy and ability to be in the right spot and make the smart play.
While she showed flashes on the court -- notably a 10-rebound game against Seton Hall -- Irwin never put it together on a consistent basis.
At times, Auriemma thought she was trying too hard. Because she wasn't a national recruit like a lot of her teammates at UConn, Irwin put a lot of pressure on herself.
“The thing with Kyla is there weren’t a lot of people that recruited her to play at this level,” Auriemma said. “So when that happens, I think kids try to prove too hard that ‘Yeah, I can, I can do this.’ So every day in practice, she would try to do 10 things she’s not good at and would make herself frustrated and dig herself a deeper hole. And she would try so hard that it just completely backfired.”
Irwin took a step back, “I was tired of messing up too much,” she says, and decided to stop worrying about proving anything to anyone. Instead, she took looked introspectively and focused on playing to her strengths.
Check out more post-game interviews, featuring Geno and other players, here!
“Whenever I go out there, I try to do what I know I can do,” she said. “I don’t want to spread myself too thin and try to do too much. Just go out there and help in any way I can, whether that’s a two-minute break for someone or whatever it is, just making sure I do what I can do.”
With Batouly Camara out for the foreseeable future after knee surgery and Evelyn Adebayo still trying to gain the trust of the coaching staff, Irwin is an important player this year for the Huskies. She’s the top backup to Olivia Nelson-Ododa, so if the center gets into foul trouble or needs a breather, she’ll be relied on to hold down the fort.
One game isn’t enough to make any assumptions about what kind of impact Irwin will make the rest of the season. Her career numbers suggest this type of performance was the exception, not the norm and it’s not like Virginia is the most fearsome opponent, either.
At the same time, this type of performance proves Irwin is capable of playing at this level. It isn’t a question of “can she do it?” but “will she do it?”
That in of itself is an improvement from past seasons.
It also helps that one of Irwin’s biggest supporters is her head coach. Auriemma doesn’t want her to do well just because UConn needs her to. He wants the senior to do well because she deserves it.
“Hopefully, she’ll get a tremendous reward,” he said after the UVA game. “I hope she does. She works so hard, she’s a great teammate and I like to see those kids get rewarded. So I was thrilled for her today.”
