TJ Power dug his face into his hands. As the final buzzer sounded in Sunday’s Ivy League championship game, Power’s Penn teammates rushed the court to celebrate. Then they mobbed Power, the hero of the day, as confetti rained down.
The emotions of the moment, the culmination of a long journey, were hitting him.
Power’s legendary 44-point performance in an epic overtime thriller against Yale had sent Penn dancing into the NCAA Tournament as Ivy League champions. Few know what it took for him to reach that moment. One was Jamie Sullivan, his former coach at Worcester Academy. He tried calling Power about an hour after the game. He didn’t initially get through, but Power called him right back.
“(I) just (told him) how much I love him and how proud I am of him,” Sullivan said. “God is great, how much he deserves it, how much I love him and appreciate him and how much he deserves it. (He said) ‘I love you coach.’”
A year ago, their phone call struck a different tone.
A year ago, Power was at a low. His confidence was lost. After his freshman season at Duke didn’t work out, Power left for Virginia. It didn’t work there, either. Power – a five-star recruit coming out of Worcester Academy – was suddenly looking for a third school in three years.
“Last year at this time, we were crying,” Sullivan said. “We were upset. He had lost his mojo, he lost his confidence. It was stripped from him. … He was worried about, am I good enough? He had some self-doubt.”
Power was hopeful that a fresh start at Virginia would work last year. But on the eve of the 2024-25 season, coach Tony Bennett suddenly retired. Power proceeded to only play in 24 games and in 226 minutes (9.3 per game), and when the season ended, he was left searching for answers. Virginia hired Ryan Odom to be its new coach, and he didn’t have a relationship with him. Power needed to find a new spot.
“(It was) what are we going to do, where are we going to go, how are we going to move forward?” Sullivan said.
Call it third time’s the charm. But the stars quickly aligned for Power while he was at his lowest point. On March 27 last year, Penn announced the hiring of Fran McCaffery as its new head coach. Back in 2020, when he was at Iowa, McCaffery was one of the first coaches to offer Power a high-major scholarship.
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It was almost a no-brainer. Power soon committed to Penn and McCaffery, a coach who genuinely believed in him and his ability.
“I came to play for Coach McCaffery, that was the bottom line,” Power said Sunday on why he chose Penn. “Wherever he was going. I made the mistake twice of saying no to him. I didn’t want to make that the third time. What he’s done for me, it’s everything. I don’t think I tell him enough.”
How did Power get himself out of a dark place? It’s always started in the gym.
Sullivan said Power and his father, Tom, have had a key to Worcester Academy’s gym for years. That’s where you could find them regularly last summer. It was where Power felt most comfortable. He and his dad would work out in the gym together with what Sullivan joked as their “old-school music” playing on the speakers.
“I think it all came from the confidence and overcoming adversity was the only way he knows, and that’s getting in the gym and working on his game,” Sullivan said.
Power, unsurprisingly, fit in seamlessly with his new team this year. With a real opportunity, with a coach who believed in him and let him play through mistakes, the Shrewsbury, Mass. native has averaged 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 42.7 percent from 3-point range this season.
Sullivan could see the joy back in Power as he watched from afar and regularly talked to him. He could see how Power was a culture-setter, just like he was at Worcester Academy, where he won back-to-back NEPSAC championships alongside Tre Norman and Kayvaun Mulready.
“You could see that he was enjoying his teammates; he was loving leading,” Sullivan said. “He was loving leading the charge for all things UPenn basketball: where they go to eat, being a leader, being the head of the team in regards to press conferences. All that stuff. He really took the bull by the horns, because you could feel that his coach and the coaching staff and his teammates really believed in him.”
When he watched Sunday’s championship game from a far, Sullivan could sense a big game coming from Power. He got off to a great start. It was obvious he was comfortable and in a good flow. Sullivan said Power was too unselfish in his time at Worcester Academy to have big scoring performances like that, but it was in him.
After a 23-point first half, Power willed Penn to the win. The Quakers trailed by two possessions in the final minute before Power buried two 3-pointers in the last 15 seconds, including a game-tying shot to send it to overtime. He rebounded “like a man,” Sullivan said, too, corralling 14 boards.
It was a rewarding moment, but also emotional. Power’s parents, Tom and Shannon, called Sullivan after the game, and they were choked up.
“He was at the top,” Sullivan said. “He’s a five-star recruit who was at Duke. Sometimes, the game can be really cruel. It can be very short-sighted. … He didn’t get an opportunity to play basketball. Both places ripped his confidence out, and if the coaches believed in him, he’d be performing like that at Duke or Virginia. I believe that with my heart and my soul.”
The path ended up being different than Power expected. But he’s back at the top.
“It’s been a long journey for me,” Power said. “Some dark times, some times where you start to kind of give up on yourself a little bit. I give so much credit to my support group. My mom, my dad, my parents, my sister, cousins … man, it took a village to keep me up and now I’m here. Coach is a part of that support group along with my teammates, and I get uplifted every time I’m on the court.”
