Obi is a force in the paint and in the classroom. Nicole Watkins, Chicago Athletics

By Adam Turer
D3sports.com

By the time the Maroons hit the road for another long weekend, they feel a sense of relief.

Chicago is a perfect 8-0 on the road this season, including its last four wins. The latest was a convincing 74-59 win at then-No. 7-ranked Rochester.

• WBB Top 25: Chicago rises to No. 16
• UAA women's profiles: Rochester | Washington U.

The UAA is a grueling conference, both for its academics and for its travel. Thanks to the win over Rochester, the Maroons stand alone atop the league standings after the first round of conference play.

By the time Friday hits, this team is ready for action. Six straight weekends of two games in three days is not so daunting thanks to the team’s high-intensity practices.

“Our practices are very competitive and very fast-paced. I guess it does help that we have the weekend schedule. It’s kind of a break from going against each other,” said junior Ola Obi. “We go through the week practicing so hard against each other, we go into the weekend ready to take it out against somebody else.”

Monday practices are usually light, after a weekend of games. Tuesdays are an off day. Thursdays feature an early morning practice before traveling out later that day. But in the gym on Wednesdays, competition gets fierce. All 13 women on the roster push one another to get better.

“I think we have instilled this go-at-each-other mindset in practice so that they cannot wait to be on the same team on the weekend. We really get after it pretty hard,” said head coach Carissa Sain Knoche. “I feel like we are really well-prepared one through 13 every week. Our kids really take our scouting to heart and embrace our preparation phenomenally. It really is a credit to the kids who don’t get nearly as much playing time as they would like. They are a huge piece of our preparation.”

Obi's 10 double-doubles lead the team. Photo by Patrick Gorski

Obi is the team’s leading rebounder with 11.4 per game. She also leads the team with 49 steals and shares the team lead with 14 blocks. She has notched 10 double-doubles so far this season, including a 22 and 11 performance (to go with six steals) in the win over Rochester. Much of her success is a credit to her teammates.

“Ola’s rebounding in practice is pretty intense—I tell the other team ‘You’re just going to let her get that offensive rebound?!’” said Sain Knoche. “Her teammates have challenged her to be a better rebounder and to be a better scorer. They really challenge her to make her a better defender as well.”

A combination of athleticism, preparedness, and intensity has made Obi a force on both ends of the court. She enjoys attacking the glass on offense (five offensive rebounds per game) and defense. She knows exactly where to be so often on defense that she accumulates blocks and steals just by being in the correct spot.

“She hears from me that we don’t block shots. People tend to shoot into her arms. We’re not big, we just try and put them in positions to be successful. We try to use our athleticism,” said Sain Knoche. “She is an incredible athlete. We really try to put her in position to where she’s going to make good decisions. What people see statistically is that she blocks shots and gets steals. What she does is execute what we’re asking her to execute, and it works in her favor a lot. She plays within the team concept, which is set up for her to be that successful. She’s in the right place at the right time.”

Despite just two seniors on the roster, the Maroons are one the most experienced teams in the conference. Two years ago, Obi was the UAA Rookie of the Year. Last year, teammate Miranda Burt earned that honor. Seniors Madison Dunbar and Elizabeth Nye both have starting experience and contribute over 20 minute per game off the bench. Nine different players average over 10 minutes per game.

“I think these kids really believe in who they are. Even our seniors are coming off the bench and providing so much for us in terms of the little things that make a program win,” said Sain Knoche. “They have a ton of experience. It’s a very experienced roster, even though the bulk of our minute-getters are younger.”

The Maroons are a true meritocracy. It doesn’t matter who starts, or who started in years past. If you arrive on campus ready to compete, you’ll earn your minutes.

“That’s a really great thing about our team. There’s no process of sitting the bench and doing your due diligence,” said Obi. “You play if you’re talented, and we have a really talented team. What helps us a lot moving forward each year, is there’s not a lot of time that people have to get adjusted to pace of game. By the time you’re a sophomore, most people know what to expect.”

Sophomores Mia Farrell and Taylor Lake are the team’s leading scorers, followed by Obi. All three average in double figures.

“Even though we’re a young team, we’re very mature and work well together on the court,” said Obi. “All the freshmen picked up the offense and defense really quickly.”

The team has players from eight different states. Sain Knoche found most of them at either Chicago’s camp or Princeton University’s camp. They all share a passion for high-level basketball at a high-level academic institution. They are used to pushing themselves academically and athletically, which helps them recover from the grueling weekend grind.

“If you could have seen our team in the airport on Sunday flying home, they would have told you it’s a lot and they’re exhausted. The travel just is what it is,” said Sain Knoche. “It’s something that I think our kids really embrace. It’s one of the reasons that they came to Chicago, for this opportunity to be able to travel to big cities and play big games.”

There is still plenty of business to finish as the Maroons head into February, including a rematch with Rochester on Sunday. They know the feeling of waiting on the NCAA tournament bubble well, and hope to avoid that this season. Chicago is seeking its first outright UAA title since winning the conference back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Last year’s near heartbreak remains in the back of their minds.

A shocking loss to Washington University in the regular season finale, a game the Maroons led by nine points with 47 seconds to play, cost them the conference title. But they earned that playoff berth as an at-large selection, then defeated No. 8-ranked Wartburg before losing to No. 2-ranked St. Thomas. That NCAA bid allowed the Maroons to quickly turn the page from the crushing loss. It galvanized them and gave them an opportunity to show that they belonged among the nation’s best teams.

“That’s a game that as a coach you’ll never, never, never forget. That loss was brutal for us. We knew if we won we were in and if we lost we were on the bubble,” said Sain Knoche. “The byproduct of that was very positive. They have been very mature about the whole thing.
We left there saying we played good enough basketball to get into the postseason. I think it gave us a tremendous amount of passion to just go prove ourselves.”

Now ranked No. 16 and alone in first place in the UAA, the Maroons should have another opportunity to prove themselves in the postseason. The road warriors already have wins this year at Wash. U, Rochester, and Emory. With five of their final seven games at home, the Maroons have their goals right in front of them.

Just don’t expect them to take it easy on each other at practice.