Shea Ralph on Aubrey Galvan: Vanderbilt Freshman Playing With ‘Vendetta’ During Historic 17-0 Start
Aubrey Galvan Just Loves to Play
Vanderbilt Commodores Women’s Basketball is on fire and climbing steadily this season as they sit at 17-0 (4-0 SEC) and ranked No. 5 in the polls. A Thursday night win at Mississippi State would set the school record for the best Commodore start in program history. Vanderbilt is a complete team, and they should not be slept on.
Tuesday night, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced the Commodores as the USBWA National Team of the Week. That’s another measure of what’s happening just off West End in Nashville. This is a complete team and should be viewed as such. This isn’t just the Mikayla Blakes show. While she deserves every bit of praise she receives, you see every game that others are stepping up strong as well.
During Coach Shea Ralph’s media availability on Tuesday at the Huber Center in Nashville, I had the chance to ask Ralph about the freshman who never seems to get tired, Aubrey Galvan.
Galvan currently leads the team in minutes played this season with 562 minutes total, averaging 33 minutes per game. She is currently averaging 11.2 points per game with 6.5 assists per game and 3.2 steals per game. Her court presence and vision are already ahead of the game in my opinion and will only get better.
“She’s just a kid that loves to play,” said Shea Ralph. “So one of the great things about Aubrey is that nothing really gets under her skin.”
You can see it in Galvan’s play that she’s a confident freshman who isn’t intimidated by SEC competition or any competition for that matter. Coach Ralph described her as someone who never gets tired and is unbothered. Those are two characteristics that are definitely needed at this level of ball.
“She doesn’t get tired. She loves to play basketball. She is, unbothered is probably the best word. She’s unbothered. So she’s just gonna get out there and if something happens that she doesn’t like, she’s gonna learn from it. But you’re not gonna see it in her body language on her face, unless usually I take her out. She don’t like that, but she’s a kid that just loves to play.”
Standing at 5’6″ from Deerfield, Illinois, Galvan was told she was too small to play in the SEC by others. The 2024-25 Illinois MaxPreps Player of the Year didn’t take that and is out to show that whoever doubted her was wrong.
“She studies the game and you’re seeing how much confidence she has in herself too, and how much confidence our team has in her. That kid knew, I mean, everybody told her she was too small to play in this league,” Ralph said.
“She’s playing with a vendetta out there. Yeah. I mean recruiting, that was like the thing. She’s too small. She’s too small to play in the SEC, she’s not strong enough. But I think people are quickly finding out that that’s not true. And we knew that when we brought her here.”
Thursday night, Galvan and the Commodores have a chance to cement themselves in Vanderbilt history as they take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Tip-off is set for 6:30 PM ET/5:30 PM CT and can be seen on the SEC Network, with Tiffany Greene and Carolyn Peck on the call.
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