City of Basketball Love

Liam O'Murchu (@hooplove215)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)
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After three years at Connecticut, Jalen Gaffney is settling into a new home at Florida Atlantic. With his new home will come a heightened role on a team returning eight of their top nine players looking to make some noise in Conference USA.

Gaffney was a four-star recruit out of high school, playing one year each at the Pennington School and the Lawrenceville School before spending his final two years at the Westtown School.

In his senior year he was named to the all-state team and was nominated for the McDonald's All-American game. He was ranked as the 133rd best player nationally in the 2019 class, per 247 Sports, and held 22 offers, visiting with schools like St. John’s, Xavier and Clemson before landing with the Huskies.

The Columbus, N.J. native averaged 3.9 points, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 rebounds per game in 19.1 minutes per game in his freshman year. Although Gaffney struggled to make a huge impact on the stat sheet, he started 11 of the final 12 games of the year before the season was cut short due to COVID.

Coming into his sophomore year, Gaffney put on 10 pounds and expected to step into a bigger role. In a COVID-disrupted season, his numbers creeped up to 6.1 points, 1.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game in 19.4 minutes per game with four starts.

In his third season in Storrs, his minutes per game dropped to 12.8 and he didn’t start once. After the season, Gaffney entered the transfer portal looking for a new environment where he could get more playing time.

“I could have maybe played more or whatever, but I just learned a lot about myself.” Gaffney said about his time at UConn. “What I really needed in a coach, in a team and in a system. And I wanted to go somewhere where I was being not only cared for but people wanted to help me and really wanted to see my growth.”

Gaffney said he already knew FAU head coach Dusty May thanks to May being involved with his recruitment out of high school during his time as an assistant at Florida. Also helpful in the recruiting process was a coincidental airport meeting between May and AD Gaffney, Jalen’s dad, during COVID.

“I always kind of wondered if he did leave, would we have a shot?” May said. “And when they said that they really think he needs to play for someone that he's familiar with, we felt like ‘Okay, we have a real shot at this. We need to pick it up from a recruiting standpoint.’”

Sliding into a team that returns the vast majority of players from a CBI team last year was never going to be an easy task, even for someone who has moved around and played at as high of a level as Gaffney. But May said that Gaffney’s desire to win and selfless attitude endeared him to the returning guys.

“The only question they all asked was 'Is he about winning and does he work?' And at that point, I was like, ‘okay, then he's going to be a good fit’ because I knew what kind of character Jalen had,” May said.

Transitioning from a Big East school in snowy Connecticut to a Conference USA school 15 minutes from the Florida shoreline was always bound to be a big adjustment. Then you factor in the fact that he is learning a new system on the floor as well. However, Gaffney says that the team has made the transition seamless and he is happy to be in Boca Raton.

“It's a completely different experience.” Gaffney said. “I mean, the one thing is the weather of course. I think I've been a lot happier down here. Honestly, it's just two different worlds.”

Gaffney figures to slot in as an important player for the Owls. May said they’ll look for him to strike the right balance between being aggressive and letting the game come to him while showcasing his shotmaking ability and versatility. Meanwhile, Gaffney has spent the last three years playing for a team that has been in the top 60 of defensive efficiency all three years, per KenPom. The Owls hope he can impact that side of the ball as well.

“We're excited about his ability to playmake,” May said. “Also we need him to stretch defenses with his three point shot. And then you know, he's played for really, really good coaches on the defensive end as well. So we know he can contribute on that side of the ball as well.”

The UConn transfer should benefit from playing in an offense well suited for a guard with his skillset. May said that the Owls will have “two or three playmaking point guards on the floor at all times, maybe four at times.” This should give Gaffney an opportunity to create offense and play aggressive, disruptive defense while not being relied upon too heavily, especially early in the year.

But something that Gaffney brings in terms of intangibles is the fact that he has been playing basketball at an elite level for the past five years, whether it was at UConn or the Westtown School. For a program looking to win their first conference title since 2002 and their first since joining Conference USA in 2013, that experience will be crucial.

Gaffney has played in two NCAA tournaments, not to mention the high level Big East games during his time at Connecticut. At the Westtown School, Gaffney played with countless future Division I stars, from Florida State guard Jalen Warley to New York Knick Cam Reddish. He says experiences like that were crucial to his development, especially as a defender.

“I played with Cam Reddish and I had to guard him pretty much every day in practice.” Gaffney said. “So I was just learning how to play defense, learning to play against bigger defenders.”

Preseason expectations for the Owls are among the highest they’ve been in recent memory. They were picked fifth in the Conference USA preseason poll and sit 89th in Ken Pomeroy’s preseason rankings. The team’s long term goal for this season is to win a conference championship and appear in their second NCAA tournament in program history. Gaffney echoes those goals and knows that he’ll have an important role in the team getting there.

“We work and get better every day to become winners and win the conference championship.” Gaffney said. “I think that's our main goal. And honestly my main goal is just to help the team in any way possible and to achieve our team goal.”

At the most basic level, Gaffney is cherishing the opportunity to continue playing the sport he loves at a high level in a caring environment. And while he’s at it, he wants to make it back to the NCAA tournament.