Back from injury, Peyton McDaniel is leading James Madison in a season for the ages

The road back was arduous—605 days of physical and mental battles.

There were no guarantees. Day after day, grueling rehab sessions blurred into one another, each hopeful yet yielding no definitive progress in healing from the tendonitis in her knees and foot discomfort. The 6’0 James Madison redshirt junior guard gritted her teeth, breaths coming in ragged gasps as sweat dripped off her forehead and onto the weight room floor mats.

Every movement felt like a battle—muscles trembling, aching, refusing to cooperate no matter how much she pushed. McDaniel had the desire, fortitude, and faith to endure it all. But her body? It wasn’t responding. Frustration gnawed at her. The court no longer felt like home; it was a foreign place where trust became fractured. 

In McDaniel’s darkest moments, quitting was the easiest choice, but as they say, the toughest battles are given to the strongest people.

“It was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” McDaniel admitted to The Next during a Zoom call. “The uncertainty was the hardest part. There wasn’t a clear timeline—no set path from injury to recovery. We tried rehab, and it didn’t work. We tried an injection, and that didn’t work either.”

Then, something changed. Reps flowed into a rhythm. Hesitation faded into confidence. Basketball finally felt right again. Now, when McDaniel steps on the court, she treasures every moment—not just for the game but for the perseverance, passion, and patience it took to return stronger, transformed, and battle-tested.

The injuries could have derailed everything McDaniel had worked hard for. Instead, they became a catalyst for something greater.

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Playing with strength and intensity, McDaniel became the second James Madison player to earn Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year honors. She’s the 11th player in JMU program history to earn a Player of the Year accolade.

“I got stronger from (being injured), but it was hard for me,” McDaniel said. “It was hard for me to trust what I could do with my body because I had been out for so long or moved the way I used to. Looking back on the summer, Coach O sat down with me, and we made a plan. We knew moving forward that (winning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year) was the goal. Seeing it come true was surreal. I was just happy.”

Majoring in adult education/human resource development, McDaniel, a four-time Sun Belt Player of the Week recipient, averaged 16.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game to anchor the Dukes machine. She is one of only two Division I players in the country to average at least 16 points and eight rebounds per game while hitting 60 or more three-pointers.

The injuries, which forced her to sit out the 2021-22 season, tried to write her ending. Instead, it became the beginning of her most significant chapter yet. One, that’s far from finished.

Now, she’s enjoying James Madison’s season for the ages.

“I am so appreciative,” said McDaniel, born in Charlotte and moved to Birdsboro, Pa.,, 60 miles west of Philadelphia when she was 3. “Because there was a time in the middle of it where I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to play ever again. I also appreciate the people around me, like (JMU head coach Sean O’Regan) and Alex on the staff. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to do it because there were some days when I didn’t think I could. They never gave up on me, which allowed me to not give up on myself.”

McDaniel is leaving her mark. She is fifth in James Madison history with 255 career three-pointers and 10th in scoring with 1,589 points.

In leading the Sun Belt in scoring during conference games with 17.4 points per game average, McDaniel scored in double figures 27 times, topping 20 or more points eight times. She finished with 12 double-doubles, 34th nationally and second most in the league. Five double-doubles came in consecutive games in conference play, making her the first JMU player with five straight double-doubles since the 2006-07 season.

O’Regan has seen it all. However, watching McDaniel’s journey from the sidelines was different, inspirational, and personal.

“You don’t see many stories with this level of adversity,” O’Regan said. “She wasn’t just in a slump—she was fighting her body, battling through major injuries. You’re looking at somebody who has been blessed to do this her whole life, who loves this, who is all in with this and can’t do what she loves. It was hard to see. And now, she’s playing at a Player of the Year level. That’s special.”

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Healthy and feeling great, McDaniel’s impact extended beyond scoring. According to Her Hoop Stats, she posted the highest rebounding rate (13.4%), assist rate (8.6%), steal rate (2.6%), and block rate (2.2%) of her career. She averaged 1.00 points per play and enjoyed an effective field goal percentage of 52.0%.

McDaniel was a three-level scorer who proved how lethal she was from close and beyond the arc.

Entering the Sun Belt tournament, McDaniel made 65.8% of her shots at the rim (77-for-111), 8.5% above the Division I average of 57.3%, according to CBB Analytics. She attempted 29.5% of her shots at the rim. From the above-the-break 3-point distance, she is shooting 34.9% (59-for-169), 3.9% above the Division I average.

Meanwhile, the list of JMU’s season accolades that McDaniel was blessed to help facilitate with her consistent performances read like glowing reviews from a blockbuster movie premiere. James Madison’s season has been brilliant, as evidenced by receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the third consecutive week. With a 19-game winning streak and a program-record 27 victories, the Dukes delivered one awe-inspiring performance after another.

Their dominance in the Sun Belt was a masterclass in excellence. The Dukes were the first team since Middle Tennessee State in 2011-12 to run the table in league play. In allowing the fewest points in the Sun Belt, James Madison won 13 of its 18 conference contests by double digits.

Furthermore, this was only the fourth time in program history—and first since 1989 when it was a member of the Colonial Athletic Association—that JMU enjoyed an undefeated conference run. This is hard to fathom, considering all of the great teams and consistent brilliance of the JMU program.

James Madison set the standard by leading the Sun Belt in scoring defense (61.9), field goal percentage defense (35.6%), and three-point percentage defense (25.3%). Overall, the Dukes lead the nation in three-point percentage defense and are fifth in defensive rebounds per game (30.6), seventh in rebounds per game (43.0), and ninth in field goal percentage defense.

“It’s crazy,” McDaniel said of the Dukes season. “I don’t know if it’s fully set in yet because we’re still in the middle. Coach O talks about all the great players that he’s coached and the great teams that they’ve had. We even had an alumnae event where many former players returned and talked to us. It’s unbelievable to hear their stories and the success that they’ve had, and knowing that we’re the first team to accomplish so many of these feats is wild. Coach mentioned we’re going to look back, and many years from now, we’re going to say that we were on that team that went 18-0 in the conference.”

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James Madison’s entertaining roadshow was a nonstop adrenaline rush of fastbreak hoops and relentless grit that defined their championship effort. The Dukes’ nine consecutive road wins are the most by the team since closing the 2014-15 season. Even more impressive, JMU and Fairfield are the only Division I women’s basketball team with 12 road wins.

Every game felt like a thrilling chapter in an unforgettable story. Under O’Regan, the Dukes weren’t just winning—they were making history. JMU is one of six Division I teams with a winning streak of 18 or more.

The Dukes begin the expanded and unique Sun Belt tournament on Sunday afternoon. They only need to win twice to accomplish their season-long quest to reach the NCAA Tournament. James Madison will play one fewer game in the Sun Belt tournament, as the brackets are designed to increase the chances of success for its top teams, adding more relevance to the regular season.

“You want the team that’s going to give you the best chance to represent the league in the NCAA Tournament,” O’Regan said of the new Sun Belt tournament format. “At the same time, you don’t want to take away an experience for these student-athletes, to go to a conference tournament, go to a place like Pensacola, and play in the unpredictability of a tournament setting. I think that’s still a cool experience … I don’t know how five years of this will translate.”

In a world that rarely pauses to enjoy the moment and always chasing the next goal or the next game, O’Regan made sure the Dukes embraced the magnitude of their season.

Mind you, winning wasn’t new for JMU. Since O’Regan took over following Kenny Brooks’ departure to Virginia Tech, the Dukes had averaged 22 wins per season. Success wasn’t cause for celebration; it was the expectation. After all, they had won conference championships, made NCAA Tournament appearances, and advanced to the WNIT semifinals.

Yet, this team stood apart.

O’Regan, who was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year for the first time in his career, did something different throughout the season—he shared Charlie Creme’s latest bracketology updates, which currently projected JMU as a No. 12 seed, and the updated Sun Belt standings. It was a sign that even he recognized this team’s special journey.

“I realized the standard was so high here that we’re not celebrating enough because we expect to win,” O’Ragan said. “We’ve got a lot of experience, leadership, and maturity. It all starts with Peyton… When somebody shows up like that daily, like Peyton, it trickles down to the rest of the team.”

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McDaniel wasn’t alone in elevating JMU to new heights.

The Dukes enjoyed a memorable year because their top-shelf talent featured four players averaging double digits in scoring. Also earning Sun Belt postseason recognition were 6’3 redshirt senior center Kseniia Kozlova (First Team, 12.2 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game), 6’2 senior forward Ashanti Barnes (Third Team, 10.2), and 5’8 graduate guard Ro Scott (Sixth Woman of the Year, 11.3).

Scott scored in double-figures 19 times this season and recorded four games with 20 or more points, including dropping 22 points versus then-fourth-ranked Texas on Dec. 8.

The seeds of success were planted from last season’s disappointment of losing an overtime heartbreaker to Marshall in the Sun Belt championship. McDaniel also experienced the thrill of victory when the Dukes won the Sun Belt in 2023 and advanced to the NCAA tournament. She wants that winning feeling again.

The special bonding moments off the court for the Dukes, like going out to dinner after practice, spending time in each other’s apartments laughing, and watching football or basketball games, mattered the most as they fortified trust and strengthened friendships.

“The trust and love that we have for each other made a difference,” McDaniel said. “This is probably the closest our team has ever been since I’ve played here. We love each other off the court, which was a big key. Our cohesion off the court showed how much we liked playing with each other on the court. It started over the summer because we were intentional about that.”

While the season may have looked easy because of the winning vibe around the team, the Dukes were tested throughout the year. Non-conference games against Texas, Notre Dame, and North Carolina State gave the Dukes the resolve to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit against Coastal Carolina and a double-digit hole to beat Louisiana.

“This season has been special,” McDaniel said. “I think it’s a testimony to our team because nobody on our team would say they’re satisfied with where we’re at right now. Even with all of our success, we still know we have a bigger goal at hand, and I think that’s what makes this team special … This team is still really hungry to accomplish the biggest goal that we’ve been talking about all year, which is winning the conference tournament.”

McDaniel’s story is far from over.

For 605 grueling days, McDaniel battled pain and uncertainty to be part of something special and bigger than herself.

With each step and each possession, she carries the weight of her past and the hope of what lies ahead. As the Dukes chase history, she plays each moment with the gratitude of someone who once feared she’d never have this chance again.