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Contemplating that she had gained Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors 4 instances earlier than the month of January was over, Utah girls’s basketball participant Gianna Kneepkens may most likely be forgiven for not with the ability to title her favourite second to this point as a member of the Utes.
“I've liked all of it,” stated the 5-foot-11 guard from Duluth, Minnesota. “It has all actually been time. Each single minute of it.”
And why not?
Kneepkens has taken the state, and the convention, by storm. She’s a famous person within the making, alongside along with her roommate and fellow Minnesotan Jenna Johnson, and a giant purpose why coach Lynne Roberts’ crew is honing in on an NCAA Match at-large berth.
“Shocked (at Kneepkens’ success) isn’t the phrase,” Roberts instructed the Deseret Information final week. “I'm extra impressed along with her consistency. I imply, she’s been phenomenal.”
Utah is 13-7 total, 4-4 in convention play, heading into Wednesday’s 2 p.m. showdown on the Huntsman Heart in opposition to USC in a COVID-19 make-up recreation. The Utes are tied for sixth with Oregon State within the Pac-12, typically thought-about one of many two greatest girls’s basketball leagues within the nation.
However extra importantly, the Utes are No. 23 within the NET rankings, having performed a powerful nonconference schedule that included wins over Xavier, Cincinnati and Saint Mary’s and losses to Gonzaga, BYU and Oklahoma.
“The place is this system? I believe it's in an awesome spot,” Roberts stated. “Now we have the No. 1 offense within the nation in factors per possession and effectivity. … At Colorado (a 78-67 win that sparked a three-game profitable streak), we began three freshmen and two sophomores. … The vast majority of our crew is freshmen and sophomores, and they're gifted and they're hungry and so they love being at Utah.”
None extra so than Kneepkens, who served discover that she was the actual deal again on Dec. 4 when she scored a career-high 29 factors within the 85-80 loss to No. 21 BYU in simply her eighth school recreation.
She is averaging 11.6 factors and 4.1 rebounds per recreation, whereas taking pictures 40% from 3-point vary (35 of 88).
“Actually, I identical to being with this crew. I really like all my teammates. They're my greatest mates. So I identical to spending time on the street with them, having dinner with them, profitable with them,” Kneepkens stated. “I even (keep constructive) after shedding video games, as a result of we come collectively and determine what we have to repair, after which repair it.”
Whereas Roberts, in her seventh yr, isn’t shocked that Kneepkens is doing what she’s doing, the freshman stated she by no means set any expectations for herself, apart from to assist her crew win video games.
“So long as our crew is profitable, it doesn’t actually matter,” she stated.
How does the fourth-leading scorer in Minnesota prep ladies basketball historical past find yourself at Utah, of all locations?
Kneepkens — it's a Dutch title, along with her nice grandparents having migrated to america from the Netherlands — stated she bought a telephone name from a Utah assistant after she performed properly in an AAU event early in her highschool profession. She visited the campus earlier than the pandemic hit, and when the time got here to choose between the Utes and residential state favourite Minnesota, she picked Utah.
“I simply liked it,” she stated. “It simply felt proper. It simply checked all my bins.”
Roberts stated her teaching workers observed Kneepkens when she was a ninth-grader and taking part in for a well known membership crew.
“She was undoubtedly beneath the radar,” Roberts stated. “She wasn’t one of many high-profile athletes popping out of Minnesota at the moment, however she kinda blew up there earlier than her junior yr.”
By that point, she had already shaped strong relationships with a number of Utah coaches.
“It's onerous for us to get, at this stage, perhaps these five-star, high-profile, horny recruits which might be getting recruited by UCLA and Stanford,” Roberts stated. “… However we've got to do job of discovering the younger ones that may actually influence early, in order that’s what we did with Gianna. And I'm glad we did.”
Kneepkens stated her household — mother and father Donald and Betsy and 5 older brothers — by no means held her again or fearful about sending her so distant. Moreover, she famous when speaking to the Deseret Information final week, the temperature in Duluth that day was minus-7. It was 34 in Salt Lake Metropolis.
“It's moderately chilly right here,” she stated, laughing.
Talking of these 5 brothers, Kneepkens says that she “100%” bought her competitiveness from rising up taking part in basketball with and in opposition to them within the driveway outdoors their home.
“I all the time needed to beat them, until it was doing chores, after which I didn’t wish to beat them,” she stated. “I bear in mind on a regular basis popping out of shops, we'd race to be the primary one to get to the automotive.”
She started taking part in organized basketball within the first or second grade. By the point she hit Duluth Marshall Excessive, she was nice in two sports activities — soccer and basketball. She ended up being a three-time all-stater in basketball and a two-time all-stater in soccer.
“Round fifth grade, I simply began to essentially love basketball somewhat extra,” she stated. “Soccer was only a facet factor for enjoyable. I actually, actually love basketball.”
She averaged 31.2 factors as a junior at Marshall, and 43.1 as a senior. She set the Minnesota state event document for factors in a recreation, scoring 67 in a loss in 2021.
“We misplaced the sport, in order that was actually unhappy, as a result of my senior yr ended then,” she stated. “It kinda sucks it ended that method, but it surely was studying expertise.”
She completed with 3,704 profession factors, “which is ridiculous, for lack of a greater phrase,” Roberts stated. “So I knew she may rating. However any time you have got these gamers which might be so embellished in that method, you aren't certain how rapidly it is going to translate.”
Suffice to say it has translated for a tough employee who was additionally her highschool’s class president.
“She is a humble child, comes from only a nice household, the place it's about work ethic,” Roberts stated. “She is actually within the gymnasium on a regular basis. … I've had so many coaches in our convention simply speak about what a participant she is, and a future professional. If she will be able to hold her head screwed on straight, and he or she has thus far, I believe the sky really is the restrict for her.”