Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

Shatanay McCaskill was sure that her basketball playing days were done when she graduated from Passaic County Tech in June of 2008. 

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to try to play basketball in college,” McCaskill said. “I really didn’t want to play at first. I was just going to go to school and concentrate on school.” 

But after McCaskill enrolled at Rutgers-Newark in the fall of 2008, she started to rethink her initial plans. 

“I walked by the gym and I saw the girls playing pick-up games,” McCaskill said. “I realized then how much I missed playing. I had been playing basketball since second grade. It’s kind of hard to give that up. I couldn’t stay away.” 

Little did McCaskill know that she would eventually become a starter and an integral member of the Rutgers-Newark women’s basketball team. 

“I didn’t think that was going to happen,” McCaskill said. “I thought I would come to college and sit the bench.” 

But McCaskill’s relentless and tireless approach made it hard for coach Kevin Morris to keep her seated for long. 

“She may be undersized, but she’s tenacious,” Morris said. “She goes after every rebound like it’s hers. She’s constantly working.” 

McCaskill says that it’s just the way she plays. 

“Sometimes, I get going and I can’t stop,” McCaskill said. “People are amazed by my energy. I want to work extra hard to get the rebound, get the loose ball. If I slow down, I might not want to keep going. So that’s why I have to keep going.” 

Although she only stands 5-foot-7, McCaskill is constantly battling players who are much taller, yet she continues to snare rebound after rebound. 

“She’s not 5-11 or six feet,” Morris said. “But she knows how to rebound. She expects to get the next rebound and that’s a great asset to have. Her defensive skills have also always been strong.” 

“Rebounding is not about being tall,” McCaskill said. “It’s about getting good position. I have a lot of fun going up against someone who is taller, because I take it as a challenge. Even though I know that at the position I play (power forward) the girls are much taller than me, I never let that get to me.” 

McCaskill started 14 games last year as a freshman and has started all 12 games this season as a sophomore, all at the power forward slot. She averaged 6.3 rebounds per contest last year and this year, she’s grabbing missed shots at a 6.8 per game clip, trailing only senior center Courtney Vacca for the team lead. 

McCaskill said that her tireless approach worked when she was in high school. 

“I knew that if the coaches saw how hard I was working, then I would have to get a chance to play,” McCaskill said. “I knew that was the same way I was going to play in college.” 

Chances are that as a game goes on, McCaskill will eventually wind up on the floor, again a trait of the aggressive way she plays. She ends up on the seat of her pants as many times as she grabs a rebound. 

“Of course, I’m going to get back up,” McCaskill said. “Unless I’m on the floor dying, I’m going to get back up. Everyone gets knocked down. It’s whether you stay down. I do my share of knocking people down as well.” 

McCaskill does a lot of the little things as well that don’t show up in the point total. Her 25 assists this season rank second on the team. She’s among the team leaders in steals. 

“I think it’s very important for me to do other things,” McCaskill said. “If you score, but you’re not getting rebounds and not playing defense, you’re not helping the team.” 

“If she’s out on the floor, she’s going to play defense and rebound,” Morris said. “She’s always willing to work hard. She’s also a very good teammate. She doesn’t present problems to the coaching staff and everyone on the team likes her.” 

But there is one aspect to McCaskill’s game where she struggles -- her shooting prowess. 

“It’s the biggest frustration ever,” McCaskill said. “I can’t think of anything more frustrating. I work so hard to get the ball, to get rebounds and then I just don’t make the shot.” 

“We work on it with Shatanay all the time,” Morris said. “We shoot and shoot with her. Someone who works that hard deserves to make shots, but she struggles so much to finish. She’s so good at running our plays and getting into position, but she has such a tough time putting the ball through the ring.” 

McCaskill is befuddled why she shoots 26 percent from the field and 24 percent from the free throw line. 

“I know I’m not a natural shooter,” McCaskill said. “I make the shots in practice. In practice, I can make 100 foul shots, but when it comes to the games, I don’t know what happens. I just don’t make shots. It’s frustrating, but I try not to let it bother me. I try to do other things to help us. A lot of basketball players don’t realize that there’s more to the game than scoring points. Hopefully, my shot will come. I’ll keep working on it.” 

McCaskill is planning on majoring in psychology, with the aspiration of eventually becoming a child psychologist. 

In any case, McCaskill is overjoyed she decided to play basketball at Rutgers-Newark. 

“If I didn’t play, I would have missed it too much,” McCaskill said. “I’m very happy that I did.”