Different court, same result

After playing four years of collegiate volleyball, UTRGV graduate forward Taylor Muff is now on the basketball court, where her past experience is paving the way for her to be an impact player this season.

From 2017 to 2020, Muff played volleyball at the University of Northern Colorado, which saw her finish with 1,118 kills, 1,043 digs and 113 aces in 107 career matches. She was named to the All-Big Sky First Team in her junior and senior seasons while helping Northern Colorado to a 2019 Big Sky Championship.

Muff said she had an amazing experience at UNC and said the all-around culture was the best aspect of it.

“That’s something I’ll never forget, [winning the Big Sky Championship],” she said. “One of my biggest accomplishments personally, but it made it so worth it because of the people I was with. Going in every day, every practice, every weight session, every extra rep with the people I was around, that’s what made winning so much fun.”

Sophomore guard Sara Bershers told The Rider she heard Muff was “outrageously good” during her time at UNC.

“You can even see how it translates on the basketball court and her athleticism is through the roof,” Bershers said.

The guard said, at first she did not know how Muff’s volleyball skills would transfer over to basketball. 

“Because, usually, in high school, it doesn’t translate very well, but Taylor is an exception for sure,” Bershers said.

Before her collegiate career, Muff was a multi-sport athlete at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, Kansas. She lettered all four years in volleyball, basketball and track and field. 

“I’m so happy that I committed to playing three sports,” Muff said. “I think that’s kind of what allowed me to play volleyball and then play basketball afterwards. … It did help me develop as a player and just as a person. You get to meet so many people and the mental game behind each sport is so different. So, you’re getting a lot of different perspectives.” 

Asked how her previous volleyball and high school sports experience helped her transition back to basketball, Muff replied, “Training for volleyball is a lot of athletic movements. A lot of change of direction while jumping. So, a lot of it really does correlate with basketball. Basketball is definitely a lot more conditioning. So, that was kind of where I had to pick up the slack the most. And definitely, basketball’s a lot faster pace of the game. So, it’s more of a mental shift than I would say physical.”

Asked what made her pursue a graduate degree in kinesiology and play here, she replied, a big part was UTRGV Women’s Basketball head coach Lane Lord. 

Lord spent 11 years as the women’s basketball head coach at Pittsburg State University in Muff’s hometown before getting hired at UTRGV in 2018.

Lord and Muff have a close relationship as Lord’s daughter is friends with Muff and Muff’s father, Kevin Muff, was Pitt State’s men’s basketball head coach from 2011 to 2017. 

“Well, I’ve been recruiting her since she was in seventh grade,” Lord said. “[I] got to watch Taylor compete for a long, long time. I’ve been pretty much talking to her about doing this because her sister played for me as well after volleyball at Kansas State. So, at first, I didn’t think she was gonna do it. But then, every time I talked to her, I was like, “You’re coming, right? You’re coming?” and, yeah, she made the commitment to come. So, I was ecstatic.” 

He said besides her being a great athlete, the best thing about Muff is her competitive spirit. 

“I think she makes everybody on our team and our coaches better every day,” Lord said. “ She’s such a competitive person. Her work ethic is as good as anybody I’ve ever had in 28 years. So, I don’t care if she’s playing basketball, volleyball, track, tiddlywinks, it doesn’t matter. She’s gonna win.”

Trying to build a winning culture for the basketball team, he said Muff will be a big part of helping the team reach it. 

Sophomore guard Jena’ Williams told The Rider that from the first practice, Muff was an instant leader and respected by the team. 

“From day one, she’s been, you know, always going hard,” Williams said. “Always leading in conditioning or in the weight room. So, it was just easy for everyone to turn and follow her.” 

She said Muff’s leadership has made it easier for everyone. 

“I’ve never really had someone above me that I can look up to as a leader,” Williams said. “I’ve always had to lead. She’s been so big for me. Like she’s helped me learn so much as a leader and as a person. She brings competitiveness, day to day, like, every day. She’s the hardest worker out there. And it just makes us all have to rise to her level.” 

Muff said Williams is one of her biggest inspirations at the moment and helped a lot when she was transitioning to basketball and UTRGV.

“She’s probably one of the most mentally, like, locked-in players I’ve ever played with,” Muff said. “But, she understands the game so well. She has such a passion for basketball that I can really feed off of.” 

In an interview with Pittsburg, Kansas, TV station KOAM, Muff said she was nervous since the last time she played a legitimate basketball game was senior year of high school. 

Asked if she still feels nervous, three games into the season, Muff replied, “No, nerves are gone. For sure. But, I think if I would not have had experience in college before this, then yes.” 

With the women’s basketball team three games into the season, Muff is averaging 11.7 points, eight rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

In her first collegiate game against No. 21-ranked University of South Florida on Nov. 9, Muff posted a career high 15 points, nine rebounds and made three out of five three-pointers.  

“That just shows you that against a top 20, 21 team in the country that she can compete with anybody,” Lord said.

Playing Nov. 16 against UNC, where she finished with eight points, nine rebounds and three steals, Muff said it was really fulfilling to see how many people are still behind her. 

“I had a whole, like, little fan section in the gym,” Muff said. “That wasn’t even my gym anymore. But, it was cool. Just to see, like, that I did get to leave an impact, even if it was a small one, on some people there.”

Muff said her expectations for the team are to win a Western Athletic Conference Championship and to maybe make some noise in the NCAA tournament. 

“Our process is, kind of, win one game at a time, one possession at a time and one practice at a time,” she said. “So that’s kind of where our minds are at right now.”