Team is Keys’ focus
Injuries have altered Sabrina Keys’ role for Nevada.
She is no longer the low post threat she was when she helped Purdue go to the Elite Eight in 2003. She is also not going to average 18 points and 15 rebounds per game as she did when she was a senior in high school and a McDonald’s All-American finalist.
What Keys now offers is senior leadership.
“I’m not going to be the same player as before,” Keys said. “I know my role now. My success doesn’t matter as long as the team does well. I care more about the team.”
Keys, known as “the grandma” by her teammates, now applies her knowledge of the game to helping younger players.
“I try to work on being a good role model for the players,” Keys said. “It’s good when they have a lot of questions for me. I like to talk with the younger players. Sometimes we hang out or go to dinner. We all get along really well.”
Keys is the only player on Nevada’s roster with NCAA tournament experience.
She spent two years at the University of Purdue before transferring to Nevada in 2005. In addition to her Elite Eight appearance in 2003, Keys went to the Sweet Sixteen in 2004.
The 6-foot-3 rebounding machine liked to bang the boards and wanted to go to a conference that played physical basketball.
“(After high school) the main thing I wanted to do was get away,” she said. “I was recruited by Texas, Michigan and a lot of the Pac-10 but the physicality of the Big-Ten interested me. That’s why I went to Purdue.”
Keys’ career changed when she had an Anterior Cruciate Ligament hyperextension that caused her to miss the second half of the 2005-2006 season. She also missed all of last season. The NCAA granted her a sixth year of eligibility for this season because of the injury.
Keys keeps the injury taped and has undergone extensive therapy and thorough ultrasounds. Ultrasound increases the blood supply to the affected area. It is common in the rehabilitation of ACL injuries.
“It’s not what I expected,” Keys said. “I really didn’t know I’d have to play this hard (to get through the injury).”
Nevada coach Kim Gervasoni isn’t too discouraged about Keys’ injury.
Even though Keys is only averaging about four minutes per game, Gervasoni is waiting for her to get used to playing again.
“I expect her minutes to increase,” Gervasoni said. “She is getting stronger. I want to use her later in the season to match up against stronger low post players.”
Gervasoni’s move makes sense because Nevada’s problem in conference tournaments and in the postseason last year was a lack of inside presence.
Defensively, the Wolf Pack needs a strong body to contain post scoring and needs an able body to grab rebounds.
“Keys is very level-headed,” Gervasoni said. “She’s not too emotional. She always keeps her composure. She is the rock of the team.”
Gervasoni has known about Keys’ skills since she was in sixth grade.
“I lived down the street from Sabrina’s family,” Gervasoni said. “I met her mom in 1992. Her mom would work at our camps when I coached at Solano College. Sabrina would play during open gym. I really got to see her develop from a young age.”
When Gervasoni coached at Arizona State University, she heavily recruited Keys out of high school.
“She was one of our top recruits,” Gervasoni said.
Keys was a standout at Berkeley High School in San Francisco. She led Berkeley to back-to-back state runner-up honors in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Berkeley came within two points of the national title in 2001. It lost to Narbonne High School, 47-45.
When Gervasoni came to Nevada, she continued to pursue Keys.
“I let a couple of schools know I was leaving Purdue,” Keys said. “When I heard Kim (Gervasoni) was up there, I said ‘Maybe I should be there.’ I knew I made the right decision, immediately.”
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