Wake Forest Athletics
Hanging Tough
2/3/2021 12:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore Alexandria Scruggs fought through a hip injury last season to prove her mettle, and she has also shown a nurturing side as one of the women’s basketball team leaders.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Even the toughest of players can have a soft side.
They can also still feel the butterflies before every game.
All those traits help sum up Alexandria "Alex" Scruggs, a sophomore on the women's basketball team.
After fighting through a nagging hip injury throughout her freshman season, Scruggs came back healthy and ready to roll as a sophomore.
"I think the best part so far this season is that I don't have to play on one leg anymore," Scruggs said. "I learned to play through a lot of pain last season."
Scruggs injured her left hip during preseason workouts. She never missed a practice, however, and she played in all 32 games, averaging 5.5 points and 25.6 minutes per game while starting 27.
Scruggs, a 5-10 guard, said that the pain would flare up occasionally and brought her to her knees — literally – one particular time.
"We were playing against UNCG, and I made a steal and just landed wrong," Scruggs said. "I came up with the ball, but I couldn't get off the court. I was just sitting there dribbling on my knees. Luckily, Coach called a timeout."
Scruggs opted not to have surgery and underwent vigorous physical therapy several times a week and managed to learn how to play through the pain.
"Everything in my hip was just kind of irritated, and the more I did things on it, the more stuff seemed to happen to make it hurt," Scruggs said. "It would start throbbing like a heartbeat all down my leg if I landed wrong on it, or stepped in one direction too fast, or tried to fight through screens. I just learned how to play with it even though I did feel a step slow. But anytime I moved the wrong way, the pain would just shoot down my leg."
Scruggs' toughness was one attribute that head coach Jennifer Hoover noticed about her when Scruggs first came on the Deacons' radar.
"She comes from a military family and is very disciplined," Hoover said. "Seeing what she went through last year proved to us how tough she is. She didn't want to miss any games because she didn't want to let her teammates down. And sometimes you could see that she was playing through the pain. She's got all the tools and plays a physical style of basketball. She's probably our best post-feeder and has become even more aggressive and assertive this year."
Hoover also appreciates Scruggs' softer side — at least away from the court.
"She's the kid the rest of the team goes to when they need to talk to someone, or the one they ask to take them to the store when they need to go," Hoover said. "She cares about her teammates and has really looked after the freshmen this season to make sure they are comfortable. She's just a super-caring individual."
Scruggs said she has always been nurturing.
"That's just who I am," she said. "My whole life I've been a nurturer at heart. I just want to do my part to see that everyone has a good time. We are lucky to be able to play basketball, and we want to keep it fun on and off the court."
Basketball runs in the Scruggs family. Alex's father, William, played college basketball. Her uncle, John Bagley, spent 11 seasons in the NBA.
Scruggs said that her first memory of basketball came one day when she went out to the driveway with her dad and just started throwing the ball toward the goal.
"My dad just loved basketball, and I started playing competitively in fourth grade," Scruggs said. "I played softball until my mom hit me in the head one day with it. I was involved in karate for a little while but never got into it. I was serious about gymnastics until one weekend I just looked around and saw that I was so much bigger than the other girls and thought, 'maybe this isn't for me anymore, and I should be doing something else.'"
That's when she got serious about concentrating on basketball.
She started playing varsity basketball in seventh grade for Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, and as an eighth grader, she scored 48 points and helped lead her team to the state championship.
She started to get noticed by college programs and ultimately decided on Wake Forest because of the size of the campus, proximity to home and the strong academics and athletic program.
"I really clicked with the coaching staff," Scruggs said. "What's funny is that I didn't really know what getting an offer meant since no one in my family had ever really gotten one before. But playing for an ACC program that was close to home was really exciting for me. And I'm a nerd. The academics here are strong, and that appealed to me as well."
Having no issues with her hip this season, Scruggs started the first 10 games and has been filling up the stat sheet – ranking fifth on the team in scoring (7.4 ppg), third in rebounds (4.4), third in total assists (17) and second in steals (15), all while averaging 29.1 minutes per game.
Not bad for a player who admitted to still feeling the butterflies before every game.
"It's a good kind of nervous though," Scruggs said with a laugh. "I just get to a place where I start thinking too much about what's in front of me. I've learned to live in the moment and live in the now. The nerves go away as soon as that referee blows the whistle for the jump ball. That's when I know I need to focus on the next play. My whole goal is to be a better player than I was the day before."
Scruggs is interested in becoming a physical therapist or a physician's assistant once basketball is over for her.
"I'm going to let basketball take me as far as it can," Scruggs said. "Hopefully, that means an ACC Championship and even an NCAA Championship before I graduate. Basketball has been very good to me and has opened a lot of doors. And I'm very glad it has led me to Wake Forest."
They can also still feel the butterflies before every game.
All those traits help sum up Alexandria "Alex" Scruggs, a sophomore on the women's basketball team.
After fighting through a nagging hip injury throughout her freshman season, Scruggs came back healthy and ready to roll as a sophomore.
"I think the best part so far this season is that I don't have to play on one leg anymore," Scruggs said. "I learned to play through a lot of pain last season."
Scruggs injured her left hip during preseason workouts. She never missed a practice, however, and she played in all 32 games, averaging 5.5 points and 25.6 minutes per game while starting 27.
Scruggs, a 5-10 guard, said that the pain would flare up occasionally and brought her to her knees — literally – one particular time.
"We were playing against UNCG, and I made a steal and just landed wrong," Scruggs said. "I came up with the ball, but I couldn't get off the court. I was just sitting there dribbling on my knees. Luckily, Coach called a timeout."
Scruggs opted not to have surgery and underwent vigorous physical therapy several times a week and managed to learn how to play through the pain.
"Everything in my hip was just kind of irritated, and the more I did things on it, the more stuff seemed to happen to make it hurt," Scruggs said. "It would start throbbing like a heartbeat all down my leg if I landed wrong on it, or stepped in one direction too fast, or tried to fight through screens. I just learned how to play with it even though I did feel a step slow. But anytime I moved the wrong way, the pain would just shoot down my leg."
Scruggs' toughness was one attribute that head coach Jennifer Hoover noticed about her when Scruggs first came on the Deacons' radar.
"She comes from a military family and is very disciplined," Hoover said. "Seeing what she went through last year proved to us how tough she is. She didn't want to miss any games because she didn't want to let her teammates down. And sometimes you could see that she was playing through the pain. She's got all the tools and plays a physical style of basketball. She's probably our best post-feeder and has become even more aggressive and assertive this year."
Hoover also appreciates Scruggs' softer side — at least away from the court.
"She's the kid the rest of the team goes to when they need to talk to someone, or the one they ask to take them to the store when they need to go," Hoover said. "She cares about her teammates and has really looked after the freshmen this season to make sure they are comfortable. She's just a super-caring individual."
Scruggs said she has always been nurturing.
"That's just who I am," she said. "My whole life I've been a nurturer at heart. I just want to do my part to see that everyone has a good time. We are lucky to be able to play basketball, and we want to keep it fun on and off the court."
Basketball runs in the Scruggs family. Alex's father, William, played college basketball. Her uncle, John Bagley, spent 11 seasons in the NBA.
Scruggs said that her first memory of basketball came one day when she went out to the driveway with her dad and just started throwing the ball toward the goal.
"My dad just loved basketball, and I started playing competitively in fourth grade," Scruggs said. "I played softball until my mom hit me in the head one day with it. I was involved in karate for a little while but never got into it. I was serious about gymnastics until one weekend I just looked around and saw that I was so much bigger than the other girls and thought, 'maybe this isn't for me anymore, and I should be doing something else.'"
That's when she got serious about concentrating on basketball.
She started playing varsity basketball in seventh grade for Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, and as an eighth grader, she scored 48 points and helped lead her team to the state championship.
She started to get noticed by college programs and ultimately decided on Wake Forest because of the size of the campus, proximity to home and the strong academics and athletic program.
"I really clicked with the coaching staff," Scruggs said. "What's funny is that I didn't really know what getting an offer meant since no one in my family had ever really gotten one before. But playing for an ACC program that was close to home was really exciting for me. And I'm a nerd. The academics here are strong, and that appealed to me as well."
Having no issues with her hip this season, Scruggs started the first 10 games and has been filling up the stat sheet – ranking fifth on the team in scoring (7.4 ppg), third in rebounds (4.4), third in total assists (17) and second in steals (15), all while averaging 29.1 minutes per game.
Not bad for a player who admitted to still feeling the butterflies before every game.
"It's a good kind of nervous though," Scruggs said with a laugh. "I just get to a place where I start thinking too much about what's in front of me. I've learned to live in the moment and live in the now. The nerves go away as soon as that referee blows the whistle for the jump ball. That's when I know I need to focus on the next play. My whole goal is to be a better player than I was the day before."
Scruggs is interested in becoming a physical therapist or a physician's assistant once basketball is over for her.
"I'm going to let basketball take me as far as it can," Scruggs said. "Hopefully, that means an ACC Championship and even an NCAA Championship before I graduate. Basketball has been very good to me and has opened a lot of doors. And I'm very glad it has led me to Wake Forest."
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