Elena Rodriguez’s journey from the Canary Islands to becoming Harvard’s ‘quarterback’

“I remember kind of laughing, and I was just thinking to myself — and said this to them, probably — like, ‘Well, I hope this kid is good, seeing how everybody in the world is hitting me up about her,’” Moore told reporters on Jan. 3.

Rodriguez delivered on that hype as a sophomore, becoming a focal point of the Crimson offense and earning honorable mention All-Ivy. And after an injury limited her as a junior last season, she’s averaging career highs in points and steals this season for a Harvard team that is 15-2 and could make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.

“Elena’s one of the most versatile [players] we have on our team,” Moore said in October, “so I think she’s at the core and the foundation of everything that we do.”

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Growing up in the Canary Islands, Rodriguez was always around basketball. Her father, aunt and sister all played or currently play professionally.

“I feel like it’s been always in the house,” Rodriguez told The Next on Jan. 16. “… It’s just great to have that in common in our family.”

Rodriguez started playing when she was seven, and she was small enough that her coaches had her play point guard. Her growth spurt didn’t come until early in high school, right around the time she made her first Spanish youth national team.

Rodriguez could’ve stayed in Spain after high school and played professionally. Her sister Natalia, who is four years older, wrestled with the decision, visiting three U.S. colleges before deciding to stay in Spain. But her process helped put the American system on Rodriguez’s radar.

“I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that — it’s now or never,” Rodriguez said about college basketball. “So I feel like in my place, I was like, ‘Well, I can come to the U.S., see how it is, and if I don’t like [it] in my first year, then I can always come back. Spain is always gonna be there for me.’ But … I feel like the option of the Ivy League was just perfect because [it’s] the best of both worlds.”

Delaney-Smith and her associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Mike Roux, discovered Rodriguez through their pre-existing connections in Spain. They got film of her, and Roux quickly decided she needed to be a top priority.

“Our core values have always [been] … be selfless, be tough and be disciplined … and Elena was all three of those things even before I got her,” Delaney-Smith told The Next on Jan. 17. “And at the top of the list, selfless, and that might be my favorite part about her. She just wants to win.”

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Rodriguez from visiting Harvard, but she and her family built a connection with the staff over Zoom, with Rodriguez translating for her parents. Her ability to talk for several minutes in English with the coaches, remember all of it and thoroughly explain it in Spanish to her parents floored Delaney-Smith and Roux, the latter of whom knew enough Spanish to get the gist of her translations.

“We all could tell how brilliant she was at that point, really,” Delaney-Smith said.

When Rodriguez got to Harvard, her first challenge was finding Lavietes Pavilion, where the Crimson practice and play. Having never been on campus, she had no idea where it was and had to rely on teammates to get her there. She then had to adjust to the academic demands, the long winters and even the mealtimes, as the dining halls closed well before her usual 9:30 or 10 p.m. dinnertime.

“It was really hard, especially because not only the academics and basketball, but also every cultural aspect,” Rodriguez said. “… Everything was new … and you have to make [the adjustment] so quick because you don’t have time to kind of settle into it.”

Even the basketball didn’t feel totally familiar. There was more emphasis on skill development and strength than back home, and less time was spent on things like off-ball movement that are staples of European basketball. She scored just 8 total points in 11 nonconference games and played more than 10 minutes only twice before finding more of a rhythm in conference play. Overall, she averaged 2.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 9.2 minutes per game as a first-year.

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Delaney-Smith retired after Rodriguez’s freshman year, and Moore gave every player a blank slate to earn minutes and roles. Rodriguez knew that was a golden opportunity for her, and she made the most of it in a breakout season. She was initially the team’s sixth player, but injuries to other players pushed her into the starting lineup.

Rodriguez ended up starting 21 of 32 games and averaging 11.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 28.9 minutes per game. She also shot 62.3% from the field, which ranked 24th in the country, on 7.5 shots per game.

What stood out to Moore about Rodriguez right away that season — and helped her get on the floor — was her basketball IQ.

“She really understands the game better than a lot of people at this level and a lot of people her age,” Moore said. “And … you’re able to see that when she plays. She does a lot of pointing and talking about where not only she should be on the floor, but where other people should be on the floor.”

Though Delaney-Smith had used Rodriguez primarily at the three in a five-out offense, Moore had Rodriguez play in the post more, partly due to the injuries. Rodriguez soon became what Moore would describe as the “quarterback” of Harvard’s offense, with the ball flowing through her to move side-to-side.

“In her first year with Carrie, I was very impressed with how much they were posting her up,” Delaney-Smith said. “And I thought that was a great decision.”

As a junior, Rodriguez started the season strong, scoring in double figures in five of her first six games. She then closed out nonconference play by pouring in a career-high 33 points on 11-for-14 shooting (5-for-5 from 3-point range), 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks at Delaware on Dec. 31.

Rodriguez said she didn’t suspect in warmups that she was going to have a career day. But at halftime, she already had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and her teammates started celebrating her in the locker room. “I was just ready to keep playing the second half, and they were already throwing a party,” she said.

That performance gave Rodriguez a boost that she carried into conference play, but in early February, she injured her hamstring. That kept her out for a few weeks and led to some inconsistent play, which limited Harvard’s ceiling.

“We need her,” Moore told reporters that March, after a road loss to Penn. “Bottom line, our team is not as good when Elena is not playing well or not on the floor.”

As a senior, that still rings true, and now Rodriguez has reached another level on the court. She is averaging 12.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 54.2% from the field. She is averaging about five fewer minutes than her career high — part of a strategy to keep her healthy — yet she has stuffed even more production into those minutes.

“She’s ready to kind of answer the call, whatever it looks like,” Moore said on Jan. 3.

So far this season, that has often looked like Rodriguez taking more shots. Unlike past seasons, Moore hasn’t had to push Rodriguez to shoot when she’s open. She is attempting a career-high 9.1 shots per game, including career bests both inside and outside the arc. And she has scored in double figures in 12 of 17 games, which is a higher share than in any other season.

“I feel like I’m still doing the same as I was doing last year of getting everyone involved in the offense and trying to get the best shot,” Rodriguez said, “… but at the same time also being aware of like, ‘Hey, there are some games, especially with the experience that you have … that you have to take more responsibility.’”

One of those games was at Princeton on Jan. 11, when Rodriguez had 22 points on a career-high 18 shots, plus four steals, three rebounds and two blocks. Entering the game, Harvard thought Rodriguez had the most favorable matchup and told her she needed to attack it, and her scoring kept Harvard in the game in a 52-50 loss.

“She can face up and she can go by and she can back you down, and then she spins so well,” Princeton head coach Carla Berube told reporters postgame. “And it’s a hard guard. We tried our fives with her and [a four player]. And yeah, I mean, she’s just a tough player, and … she’s playing at a really high level.”

Another indicator of Rodriguez looking for her own shot more is her usage rate, which measures the share of possessions when she’s on the floor that end with the ball in her hands. Her usage rate this season is 25.2%, well above her previous best of 20.3%.

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As Rodriguez is scoring more, she has been as effective of a quarterback as ever. Her assist rate is 20.2%, which ranks in the 85th percentile nationally, and her turnover rate has fallen to a career-low 15.1%. Her steadiness with the ball has helped Harvard be one of the least turnover-prone teams in the country even while starting a first-year point guard.

“It’s almost as if you have two point guards on the floor,” Moore said. “… We put [Elena] in the middle of the floor. Just if you’re getting pressured [and] you want to just get rid of it, just give it to Elena. And we feel really confident that she can get us into flow, whether it’s strong side or weak side.”

“She’s not going to make a mistake with the ball,” said Delaney-Smith, who can often be found at Lavietes watching her former players.

Rodriguez is also feeling more responsibility in her senior season to lead and communicate. As a sophomore, she said, she could just play and focus on herself, but now, she’s relied on to help the younger players. She was hesitant to speak up early in her career, but experience has made her more confident giving instructions, especially on offense. Moore called Rodriguez “a glue” for the team, someone who keeps things in sync on the court and brings a joy and steadiness off the court.

With Rodriguez and superstar guard Harmoni Turner leading the way, Harvard has made a jump this season, especially defensively. Over the previous three seasons, the Crimson went 49-38 overall and 26-21 in conference play, but this year, they are 15-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play. They are 31st in the national NET rankings, and they are allowing the fewest points per game in the country after being average to below average in the previous three seasons. If they win an Ivy League title, it will be the program’s first since 2008 after dominating the conference in the 1990s and 2000s.

Rodriguez felt the difference in this year’s team from Day 1 of preseason.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I think this is one of the best Harvard teams I [have] ever been part of,’” she said, “‘because we have so many people [who] can step up.’ … We put a huge emphasis on defense, and the offense came very natural.”

That feeling was validated when Harvard upset then-No. 25 Indiana in the second game of the season, with Turner scoring 24 points and Rodriguez 15. Six weeks later, the Crimson made a statement defensively against Boston University, holding the Terriers to 26 points and forcing 38 turnovers. Rodriguez had a career-high seven steals, and Turner added six.

Turner, an Ivy League Player of the Year candidate, naturally commands the spotlight with highlight-reel plays, including a game-winning layup at St. John’s in November. But Rodriguez is quietly just as important to Harvard’s success, and her staying this aggressive and confident will be crucial to the team’s NCAA Tournament hopes.

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As her college career winds down, Rodriguez has gone from a first-year trying to learn what felt like a foreign sport to a senior who seamlessly blends the European and American styles. After graduation, she plans to return home and play professionally — maybe against Natalia, who plays for Kutxabank Araski in Spain’s top league. She will also try to make Spain’s senior national team and plans to branch out into 3×3 as well.

Rodriguez has long dreamed of her professional future, and as that day nears, she feels surer than ever that moving to the United States prepared her for it.

“I feel like college is kind of an academy, like a prep work for what’s the professional world about,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like it made me realize what I want as a player and what style of playing I’m more comfortable with. …

“So now when I get there, it’s like, I’m not gonna be as afraid of what’s about to come. … I feel like I’m gonna be ready to translate my game so much better and faster than if I wouldn’t have come here.”

But the quarterback still has a few months left in college, and several more touchdowns to throw, before she packs up her life again. And the Crimson hope she’ll get one more uniquely American experience to cap her four years abroad: a trip to the NCAA Tournament.