January 7, 2026
How Vanessa McManus has made an immediate impact for Cal Poly
The sophomore guard has been among the top players in the Big West this season
With the explosion of the transfer portal over the past couple of seasons, Division 1 teams are winning. Not only have high-major Division 1 teams picked up quality talent from mid-majors, but they have also gotten the opportunity to grab impactful talent from Division 2 and 3 schools. For Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, that meant finding a high-impact player in Vanessa McManus.
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McManus spent her freshman season at St. Leo University, a Division 2 school where she was the runner-up for the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year. At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, McManus entered the transfer portal and ultimately committed to Cal Poly in the Big West Conference.
McManus was sidelined early in the season, but since her return, she is third in the Big West in scoring at 19.0 points per game. She also won the conference Player of the Week award back on Nov. 24. She’s made a major impact in the games she’s played, and she attributes the strong start to having a strong support system from the rest of the team.
”I think it’s just my teammates and my coaches,” McManus told The IX Basketball. “They allow me to play free and they give me confidence every day.”
McManus’ journey to D1 is a little bit familiar for Cal Poly associate head coach Samba Johnson. Johnson has been on staff with the Mustangs since 2022, but prior to that, he had multiple stops at the D2 and D3 levels, as well as NAIA and junior college.
His last post before joining Cal Poly’s staff was at Lynchburg College, a Division 3 school. He recognizes that desire that McManus has to get better and compete no matter who is on the court.
“She’s hungry, that’s the best word I can use to describe her. She’s a hungry individual that loves putting in work and loves the challenge of competing against the top players in the country or the lowest players in the country,” Johnson told The IX Basketball. “She just loves to compete and she loves the challenge of proving that she belongs.”
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And if the start of the season is any indication, McManus certainly belongs. In her first game with Cal Poly, she dropped in 24 points while shooting 10-of-15 from the field. She followed that up with a 29-point effort against a quality opponent in Stanford. And in her fifth game of the season, she poured in a career-best 34 points. That was her most well-rounded game of the season, too, with seven rebounds and four assists.
McManus has done a lot of adjusting over the past few years — not just from D2 to D1, but from high school to college in general — but she remains balanced, learning from her previous experiences.
”I think it’s just working on my game. All the experience I took from last year [defensively], like whether I was being face-guarded defensively or denied,” McManus said. “Just taking all of those experiences to this year, and I think it’s just come to me throughout this year.”
McManus has appeared in 12 games for Cal Poly this season, a little over 32 minutes per game. In addition to her points, she’s been averaging 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 41.4% from the field, 34.9% from the 3-point line and 86.1% from the free-throw line.
She’s taking around 15 shot attempts per game, with around five of those attempts coming from 3-point range. She’s getting to the free-throw line about six times per contest. And she’s brought certain elements to the game that Cal Poly has not had in recent seasons.
”She’s very skilled, she can really handle the basketball … but she added a dimension that we haven’t had in our tenure here, that’s the ability to be a three-level scorer. She can shoot the three, get into the midrange and get the basket, And then get others involved,” Johnson said. “She’s blended well within our team, not only on the court, but of the court as well. She’s a great kid.”
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Since McManus has returned to the lineup, Cal Poly has faced two conference opponents — UC San Diego and Long Beach State. The Mustangs have gone 1-1 in that stretch, with their win coming against Long Beach State. McManus averaged 16 points, six rebounds and two assists in those games while shooting 35.7% from the 3-point line.
For McManus, she’s not sure if her transition to Cal Poly would have been as smooth if she would have played at the D1 level from the get-go.
“I think it was just a great year that I had as a freshman. I got a lot of experience. I don’t think that if I had played immediately at the D1 level that I would have played as many minutes per game,” McManus said. “That year really taught me a lot. There’s a lot of competition at the D2 level. There’s a lot of people that are capable of playing D1, and I’m just a product of it.”
With conference play the main focus now, the Mustangs are hoping to come back from a slow start to the year and keep pace in the Big West. Cal Poly is 1-3 and essentially tied with Cal State Northridge for No. 7 spot in the conference. But it’s still early, and McManus is confident the Mustangs can make a push.
”I hope we make a Big West playoff run,” McManus said. “Hopefully we can win the conference, but we still have a lot of things we need to work on.”
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Written by David Mendez-Yapkowitz
David has been with The IX Basketball team since the High Post Hoops days when he joined the staff in 2018. He is based in Los Angeles and covers the LA Sparks, Pac-12 Conference, Big West Conference and some high school as well.
