Women’s Basketball

A few weeks ago, coach Joe McKeown was speaking during his first radio show of the season, and one quote about senior forward Pallas Kuniayi-Akpanah got more publicity than any other.

“Pallas is going to make the new Welsh-Ryan Arena her palace,” McKeown said.

Kuniayi-Akpanah is set to be a cornerstone for the Wildcats this winter, but “palace” is not the right word to describe Welsh-Ryan when she is on the hardwood.

Last year, Beardsley Gym — the temporary home for NU — was less like a palace for Kuniayi-Akpanah and more like a elementary-school playground, and that domination of the court is likely to continue as the Cats return to campus.

Kuniayi-Akpanah’s leap to the upper echelon of players in the Big Ten was an unexpected one. During her sophomore season, Kuniayi-Akpanah only played in 21 games and averaged just over eight minutes per contest. She averaged fewer than two points and four rebounds per game.

But from the moment the 2017-18 season started, Kuniayi-Akpanah showed she was ready to become an All-Big Ten performer. Against Oakland in the second game of the season, the Nigeria native scored 27 points and snagged 21 rebounds — the most in the McKeown era — to propel NU to an 88-70 victory.

While she never had another 20-20 game, Kuniayi-Akpanah still managed to shine in performances that only a select few players would accomplish. On New Year’s Eve, for example, she dropped 16 points while grabbing 16 rebounds to defeat rival Illinois.

Kunaiyi-Akpanah’s best stretch of the season came at the end of her junior campaign. In the final four games, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 19.75 points and 16 rebounds as the Cats split the final four games to claim the No. 12 spot in the Big Ten Tournament.

“There is nobody… who works that hard,” McKeown said following a win over the Fighting Illini during that final four-game stretch. “It’s hard for her that not everybody plays that hard. Her and Nia Coffey used to go at it. They’d both just fly out of a cannon to get the ball and fight for it.”

It was a record-breaking year for Kuniayi-Akpanah. She caught 371 rebounds for the entire season, the most of any NU player in the history of the program and 37 more than Coffey grabbed during the 2015-16 season. She also had 18 double-doubles, tied for the most in team history, and her efforts earned her recognition as second team All-Conference.

Those accolades have continued into the fall. She was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team and was one of 20 players named to the Katrina McClain Award watch list, which is given to the best power forward in the country. And while she had only nine points and seven rebounds in Sunday’s exhibition against Lewis, McKeown said the senior did not see anywhere near the amount of touches she will get once the season gets going Tuesday.

McKeown has only one season left to utilize one of the hardest workers he has seen and arguably the best rebounder he has ever coached in the Cats lineup.

“I’m glad she’s on our team,” McKeown said. “You wouldn’t want to block her out.”

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Twitter: @thepeterwarren