Everyone should be so lucky as to have a teammate like Jenny Mowe, especially, on this given week, if you’re Ndidi Unaka.
“Want some dirt on Ndidi?” Mowe asks, interrupting an interview session with the junior forward. “She’s scared of scary movies. She’s one of those that screams. Not like ‘Oh,’ but ‘AHHHHH!’ high pitched, breaking-all-the-windows-in-my-house screams. And dogs, animals … completely scared of them. There was a toy poodle in this guy’s shirt, and she’s walking down the stairs, she comes out, looks at it: ‘AHHHH!’ and climbs over five of us to get away from it.”
“She’s making all of this up,” Unaka replies with a giggle.
“Her fastest 40 time when we were at Autzen Stadium,” Mowe begins another story. “She’s lined up, and over at like Ducks’ Village or somethin’ this big dog starts barking, and we’re like, ‘Ndidi run, it’s a DOG!’ Fastest 40 time ever.”
“She’s lying.”
“I am not, you know it’s true.”
“Whatever, Jenny. Pathological liar.”
“Yeah, just a little dirt.”

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Think of that new Nike advertising campaign, the one with the repetitive, “Boing. Boing. Boing.” Well, that’s Unaka, bouncin’ around the court, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots.
One can imagine Unaka’s 6-foot, frail frame, composed of what seems to be 90-percent legs, jumping out of Mac Court. Her team-best 27-inch — 27! — vertical leap is enough to propel her outstretched arms six inches above the rim. She says she’s never tried to dunk, though.
“Noooo, I can’t,” she said with a big grin. “I can touch the rim, but I can’t dunk. I’ve actually never tried because I can’t palm the ball.”
Although her dunking abilities have yet to come along, Unaka does provide the Ducks with a solid set of fresh legs off the bench.
“I love it when she gets down, and then all of a sudden skies over everybody,” Mowe said. “I think she’s come a long way since her freshman year.”

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In her first two years with the Oregon women’s basketball team, Unaka took a total of 28 shots in 26 games, averaging five-and-a-half minutes per game.
This year, Unaka has been one of the main contributors off the bench, playing in 14 of the Ducks’ 15 games, averaging nearly 12 minutes each game.
And the results are staggering. With almost twice the number of field goal attempts already this season compared to the last two years, Unaka is hitting .571 from the floor — third best on the team.
To top it all off, the junior forward from Harbor City, Calif., recorded career-highs in points (15) and minutes (25) against Washington State last weekend.
Regardless of what she’s accomplished, Unaka remains humble and puts the team before personal merits.

“I think I played OK, but I would’ve rather had the win than the career high,” Unaka said of the game against the Cougars, which the Ducks lost 67-64. “My minutes should increase, and hopefully I’ll play well and we can win this time. I think everyone on the bench needs to step it up.”
“She had an awesome opportunity on Saturday,” senior forward Lindsey Dion said. “For those that got to see the game, I really thought they got to see what Ndidi is capable of.”
With starting forward Angelina Wolvert out for at least another week with a knee injury, Unaka will have advanced roles this weekend against her home schools, Southern California and UCLA.
“This is just a good chance for me to get some experience,” Unaka said. “And when Ange comes back, if we happen to get in foul trouble or something, hopefully the coaches will feel more confident in putting me in there.”
Overall this year, Unaka is averaging 5.6 points per game and 1.6 rebounds.
“I’m just so proud of Ndidi,” head coach Jody Runge said. “She’s worked so hard to have this opportunity presented to her and she took full advantage of it. Quite frankly, she and [senior Brianne Meharry] kept us in that game during the stretch run. I think she played with a lot of heart.
“She’s really playing with a lot of confidence, particularly offensively. She’s very smart, she really tries to do exactly what you ask her to do.”

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In her senior year of high school, Unaka averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and 1.25 blocks per contest, leading St. Bernard to the state championship. She was also selected to The Los Angeles Times’ all-area team.
“I started to consider Oregon around junior year,” Unaka said. “I’d never heard of it. I was like, ‘Oregon?’ I thought I’d always go to school in California. But when they started recruiting me I was really interested, the coaches were really cool and the team was awesome.”
Competing against bigger post players like Mowe, Wolvert and Meharry in practice has been a change of style for Unaka.
“She’s really athletic and a different post player than this program has ever seen,” said guard Jamie Craighead, who happens to be one of Unaka’s roommates and friends.
Waiting patiently in the shadows, Unaka knows that her time will come. Next year, the Ducks will lose all of their starting post players, forcing Unaka and forward Alyssa Fredrick into the mix, in what will be a much faster lineup.
“She always gives it 100 percent, and works hard in the weight room to condition with me over the summer,” Craighead said. “And it’s going to pay off.”

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Off the court, Unaka also takes pride her in academic work. She was on the honor roll all four years in high school, and the success has carried on to Oregon, where she boasts a 3.1 GPA. She originally intended to obtain her degree as a biochemistry major, but changed her mind last year and is now an exercise and movement science major, with hopes of still minoring in biology.

“I wanted to be a doctor, and now I still kind of want to, but I’m also looking at physical therapy,” she said.
Even during the basketball season, Unaka is taking a full course load, with 16 credits, including anatomy, biology and a class in the motor control lab.

***
“Naka Naka high, Naka hiney ho,” Mowe says in a mysterious manner. “Have you heard that from ‘Pee-Wee’s Playhouse’? That’s just my little nickname for her. I’m sure she doesn’t think it’s as funny as I do, but I always laugh.”
It’s a good thing Mowe’s a lot bigger than Unaka; otherwise, the teasing roles might be reversed. But nobody takes Mowe literally; she just likes to joke with her smaller teammates. In fact, Mowe can do nothing but rave about Unaka.
“The kid can jump,” Mowe said. “As a shot blocker, it’s hard for me to gauge her sometimes because she’s shorter than me, but then all of a sudden she just goes SWOOSH,” as the 6-foot-5 Mowe makes a swift arm movement upward, “right over me.”
And just because Unaka looks nice on the court doesn’t mean she is, Mowe said.
“She’s got that sweet face, but I’ve taken a few blows from her,” Mowe said. “And she’s a monster shot blocker, which I love to see because it gets the crowd going.”
And it would definitely get the crowd going if once — just once — her airness would try to rock the rim. But it seems fans will have to wait for her hands to get bigger for that one.
“We’ll work on that with her this summer and see what we can do next year,” Craighead said.