Taylor McCabe has some special traits as a three-point shooter but she has some other skills that are absolutely "jaw-dropping"
by Brian Brandsgard
Taylor McCabe is in the fourth quarter of her journey as a Hawkeye women’s basketball
player. The senior sharpshooter has experienced it all, from Final Four and national
championships appearances to Big Ten Championships, The evolution of NIL, player
transfers, head coaching changes, assistant coaching changes, Big Ten team changes and
lots more.
One thing that hasn’t changed throughout all this time is her ability to shoot the basketball.
Her coach Jan Jensen said she’s the best three point shooter in the country.
SportsRealm caught up with her recently on a rare road trip back home to Nebraska after
her team took a break for the weekend. This exclusive interview takes you in depth
into all things Hawkeye women’s basketball beginning with summer workouts, her summer
camp back home and the first two weeks of official fall practices. It ends with some insight
and fun facts she shares regarding her personal life.
SportsRealm will be checking in with Taylor periodically to get more insight and updates on
the team in the coming months. Until then, here is the first installment in the series.
When did summer workouts begin and what did they mainly consist of?
The first day of workouts was Monday June 16th, We reported on the 15th so we could get
the freshmen and transfers situated. We usually do three days of lifting and two days of two
hour practices, Lifting usually lasts an hour and a half. Then we get the weekends off.
We had sixteen total practices in the summer so we spent a good amount of time on
fundamentals, like how we close out, how we pass and cut and fill. It’s very basic,
We usually don’t scrimmage in practice a lot in the summer which is why we have our team
scrimmages outside of practice. The coaches aren’t allowed to be there so the seniors
usually run things and pick teams. We kind of know who is going to play what position like
the one, two, three, positions so we pick teams with that in mind.
Was there any area you wanted to work on yourself this summer that you thought
would improve your game?
I kind of looked at last year and thought okay what would help me out this year. Towards the
end of the year I was getting face guarded every game. I feel like they kind of knew,
especially after the USC game, where their coach had some nice things to say about me
after the game, about how I had the ability to change the trajectory of that game so I think
other coaches said we can’t let that happen to us so from then on I was guarded much
tighter, So I worked on ways to combat that.
A lot of people asked me if I was going to start extending my game into mid range with
floaters and more, which I did in high school, but I feel once you get to college, especially
within our program, the sooner you understand what the coaches want your role to be and
how you can be best at that rather than take on your own role and someone else’s it’s just so
much better. I’m going to play to my strengths.
Our coaches challenged us to get up 16,000 shots this summer and to record all of them. I
was able to stay healthy and achieve the goal. I made 76% of the 16,000 three pointers I
took.
Your coach recently said you were the best shooter in the country, how did that make
you feel?
I feel there’s a lot of good shooters in the country but I don’t think any of them are being
forced to run around and shoot the ball as fast as I do, I think what separates me is I don’t
think anyone shoots as well as I do taking the same shots I’m forced to take.
I also feel like I’ve been playing this game long enough and shooting long enough that my
shot is what it is at this point so now during the season I don’t need to worry about the
number of reps so much. I’m more worried about keeping my confidence up and trying to get
less reps to keep my body healthy and then making these reps I’m getting more game-like.
So what I really worked on was as quick as my shot was, it has gotten even quicker and
people have noticed. I’m also shooting from a lot further out and the coaches have said yeah
we need to see a lot more of that.
You put on your first ever youth Basketball camp in Fremont Nebraska this summer
In a gym where you became first team all-state and became the all-time state leader in
three point shots. What was that like?
It was so fun and so cool. We had about 65 kids mainly from Fremont ranging from K-12. I
don’t get back there often so being in that gym which they’ve redone and seeing they still
had our state championship banners hanging up there was pretty special. I was also part of
some track and cross country teams that had banners hanging up there as well.
I had a couple of my high school teammates assist me with the camp. It was so good to get
acquainted with them again but we didn’t want to make this camp about Taylor McCabe.
Some of those girls in the K-3 group were only seven years old and when they realized I was
the one they saw on TV their eyes got so big, It was really funny,
The community and coaches really want us to come back again next year which I’d love to
do because it was a lot of fun.
What’s the key to being a great three-point shooter?
I think the number one thing is confidence. You know you’re not going to make a shot if
you’re not confident in your ability to shoot the ball.
I think there’s definitely a couple of ways you can kind of gain that confidence; I think one of
those things that has always been a big deal for me has been not only putting in in a lot of
reps but putting in a lot of reps where you shoot the ball the same way, like don’t change
your shot in between reps, whether you’re coming off a ball screen or an away screen, or
just standing there, your shot should look the same, so that was a big thing growing up.
I have the tiniest hands imaginable, so I don’t shoot the ball the right way, I shoot the ball
two-handed completely, but since I’ve repped it a thousand times and figured out what works
and then started repping it that exact same way a million times it gradually worked and it’s
been pretty successful for me,
The other thing is to try finding different ways to create the shots that you’re going to get in a
game, like when I do my workouts I try and change it up a little bit but at this point I know
what my ten types of shots are going to look like so then I can just rep those shots. I’m a
very detail oriented person so if I miss a shot I know exactly what I did wrong and then I can
fix it. It’s pretty crazy actually, I need to write a book on it.
How did the first two weeks of practice go and what did the team mainly work on?
We had five days of practice in week one and two, so more practice time now has given the
coaches a chance to see us play against each other and against the gray squad (the men’s
practice squad) so that’s been good.
We put in a new offense last week so we’re going to run two offenses. One is just our usual
read and react which we’ve run since I’ve been here and the other will be more post oriented
because a lot of our strength will be with Hannah and Ava inside so I think we’ll be hard to
guard switching bank and forth. It’s looking pretty good but we’re still in the early stages of
learning it.
We’ve done a decent amount of conditioning especially in week two when we’ve gotten into
scrimmaging. We’ve also worked on transition and transition defense. There’s so many
intricate parts of basketball that you don’t even think about that we have to talk about and go
over, like who guards the ball on transition defense, who has to get back, what spots do you
need to be in, etc, We talk about boxing out, where we want to outlet the ball after we get a
defensive rebound. There’s a lot that goes into it with five new people and ten
underclassmen so things have to be repeated.
Do you think you’ll have a more prominent leadership role as a senior and what
advice would you give the new players about playing in the Big Ten?
I think when it comes down to a serious in -game situation and if I’m in the game people will
turn to me a little bit just because I know a lot about what’s going on. My basketball IQ is
very high so maybe when we get into games my leadership will be counted on more.
Right now I am kind of teaching from the sidelines so I don’t have to go in front of the team
and say anything which is fine with me. Kylie(Feuerbach) and Taylor Stremlow are our
captains this year.
My advice for the younger kids is to focus on playing defense and not turning the ball over
rather than worrying about getting a lot of shots up because you won’t be on the floor if you
can’t guard and take care of the ball.
As far as playing in the Big Ten, Get in the weight room. Everyone is bigger and stronger
and you’ll get boxed out and posted up. It’s very physical so get in the weight room.
How are the freshmen and transfers looking?
The freshmen and transfers have done a good job of getting themselves acclimated and I
think it helps there’s a lot of them and we’re all going over a lot of things competitively.
We’re also teaching our new coaches too so everybody is learning together which is really
nice. I think they have also been really good in team bonding scenarios which is good to see.
You always want to keep up the Iowa culture and tradition and they are all buying into that.
People don’t realize what a big jump it is from high school to college. Nobody plays defense
in AAU and then you get to college and it’s a battlefield so it takes time to adjust. I do think
that every player we added this year will be good for the program.
This is your last year as a Hawkeye. What would you most like to accomplish
personally?
I just want to enjoy it. I want to win games, shoot the ball well, make an impact on the team
and earn my minutes. The season gets so long and sometimes you get a bit burned out and
I don’t want that. I want to go into everyday having joy and loving the game.
Rapid fire questions to learn more about Taylor McCabe:
Favorite food? Sushi. I go to Formosa all the time. It’s saved in my contacts. They had a
Sushi roll named after me at one time.
Favorite Restaurant? Formosa is so good but my favorite is actually Basta. My boyfriend
just took me there for my birthday. It’s so good.
Favorite musical artist: Dua Lipa. I just went to her concert in Chicago a month ago with
my sister. That was one of the best nights ever. She is fantastic.
Favorite TV Show? Gossip Girl
Favorite Movie: I have two. Ferris Bueller’s Day off and Dead Poet’s Society. Super
different but so good.
Athlete you’d most like to meet? I had two favorites growing up, Kevin Durant and Sky
Diggins so I’d love to meet them. I’d also like to meet JJ Reddick because growing up I kind
of modeled my game after him.
I would also like to meet the entire Minnesota Timberwolves team. I thought I might have a
chance to when Luka Garza was there but he’s not with them anymore.
What do you like to do in your spare time: I love to oil paint. I’m a painter. I minor in art.
I took an oil painting class last semester and put in over 60 hours on my final piece which
was a 24 X 36 canvas of the Carver court storming after the USC win last year. People tell
me I should sell it, but I just can’t because I put too much time into it.
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| Taylor has some beautiful design to her paintings |
Favorite Holiday?
I think when I get older my favorite holiday will be St. Patrick’s Day
because I’m Irish and my family does St. Patrick’s Day right, but for now its got to be
Christmas. It’s a nice little break from basketball and there’s so much that goes on
it just makes me so happy.
Favorite Vacation spot?
I’ve been very fortunate. My family loves to travel so I’ve been to nine or ten countries. The
coolest spot I’ve been to for basketball was Croatia when we went on our foreign trip a
couple years ago. My favorite family vacation was when we went to Naxos Island in Greece.
That was unreal.
Best Advice You’ve Ever Received
Really two things. My parents were really strong in their faith so they raised me and my
siblings to be strong in our own faith and I feel like that was pretty powerful and just set
my moral standards and pushed me to work hard.
My mom always advised me to keep at it when times get hard because there’s somebody to
lean on and a reason to keep going.
What really jumps out though is when I was younger my dad had a saying “Dare to be
Different” and that meant a lot. I think in today’s world it’s hard to be your own person and
take risks and when you try to please people all of the time it’s challenging. So if you dare to
be different you don’t really care about that and you just stay true to yourself. That’s just
been a big thing for me.
