An unassuming Gianna Kneepkens is one of the most efficient shooters in college history

SALT LAKE CITY — Entering the fourth quarter of Utah's regular season finale Saturday, Gianna Kneepkens had only 2 points to her name.

For high-volume shooters who rely on putting up as many shots as possible during a game, especially for the team's leading scorer, a single made bucket that late in a game likely spells trouble.

Not for Kneepkens.

The veteran wing takes each game at face value and does whatever she needs to do to help her team win on any given night. If the shots aren't falling for her, she'll be the distributor, setting up teammates for their chances, or she'll mix it up in the post and secure a rebound to impact the game in another way.

But when needed, Kneepkens has the ability to put the game on her shoulders and do whatever it takes to get a win. It doesn't always work to perfection, but Kneepkens has earned the respect over the years to be the trusted leader on the floor for the Utes.

And like many times before it, Kneepkens finished Saturday's game with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists in an emotional win against rival BYU at the Huntsman Center. She closed out the final quarter and ensuing overtime period with 18 points, none of which were more important than her going a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.

That's the type of player Kneepkens is for the Utes.

On one hand, she's the star player who can flip a game on its head in an instant — the player at the top of every team's scouting report — and in another she can find other ways to contribute to help her team create a successful product on the court.

"I think the biggest thing is being aggressive and finding the holes in what the defense is giving me, because you get different looks on who's guarding you each game, so just kind of figuring that out, and then just being consistent in my preparation, too," Kneepkens told KSL.com.

She's made a living at Utah being a sharpshooter from deep, drilling 3-pointer after 3-pointer, but she can be a scorer at every level, too. Lock her up beyond the arc and she'll beat you with a backdoor cut when you least suspect it and get the easy layup.

Give her an inch and she'll fire the ball from any distance with accuracy. She'll also attack the basket and go up for a contested shot at the rim or pop off a midrange jumper.

And yet, Kneepkens is one of the most unassuming, yet efficient players in the college game. She doesn't get the attention of JuJu Watkins or Paige Bueckers in the sport, but her performance on the floor is no less significant for her team.

But that's who Kneepkens is; she doesn't need the credit or for all the attention to be on her.

From her days of being somewhat overlooked as a high school recruit in hockey country, to her quiet ascension to basketball greatness at the collegiate level, Kneepkens is unabashedly herself.

"She's so simple, she's not complicated, she's not dramatic," her mother, Betsy, told KSL.com. "She has this world that she lives in that she loves and she respects that she has that. And she also knows that there's a greater purpose in all of this, and that's really cool."

And she does it with historic efficiency.

In the history of women's college basketball, only five players at the Power Four level (17 all-time in Division-I basketball) have finished a season shooting the ball better than 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range, and 90% from the free-throw line in at least 20 games or more.

Kneepkens can now add herself to that list (as well as teammate Kennady McQueen this season).

The junior guard closed out the regular season shooting 51.3% from the field, 45.3% from 3-point range, and 90.5% from the free-throw line in 29 games. And she did it shooting more 3-pointers and free throws than any of those before her from the Power Four.

(Kneepkens nearly holds that mark for her career, too, shooting 49.8% from the field, 43.3% from deep, and 86.5% from the line — a figure no player has ever done over a career.)

Only Sue Bird, who went on to play 20 years in the WNBA as a 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champ, and Susan Robinson (Penn State, 1991-92) shot the ball more from the field than Kneepkens, but Bird had 10 more games on the year and Robinson did most of her work in the post.

So for all that simple talk, Kneepkens is anything but that on the court. She's a rarity in the game of college basketball and one that doesn't come around too often at that, especially as a high-volume shooter.

"I don't want to obtain it for the fact that I get the title of, 'Oh, she was 50-40-90,'" Kneepkens said. "I think I just want to have that because that means I'm being efficient, I'm making the right plays, I'm scoring the ball at a high level. ... I don't look up my stats after every game, like, 'Oh, I missed this many shots. Am I down?' I just want to be consistent for my team and someone that they can count on in moments."

She's obtained that rare mark while spending half the season rehabbing from an injury that kept her out of the majority of last season. And while Kneepkens was cleared to play before the 2024-25 season started, it took her some time to fully acclimate back to the game and trust that she could return to who she was before injury.

It wasn't until conference play where she started to fully feel comfortable with her game. Before, she said, "I just didn't fully feel like me."

"It was very difficult," she said. "I don't think, honestly, anyone can really understand the difficulty of it unless you go through it. ... So it was hard, but honestly more hard mentally, because it's just an everyday grind of some days feel better, and you're like, 'Wow, I feel great,' and then that next day I'll just randomly be like, 'Am I?' I haven't walked in months."

"I knew what she was capable of physically, and I knew she was able to do all of that," Betsy Kneepkens said. "It was just really unlocking the, 'I can be who I was.' ... There was that point where she got over, like, 'Wait, I can do this.' And so that's exactly what happened. She got her head, her heart and her body all in line, and she was back to pretty much who she was before. So that was a very exciting moment."

At one point in the season, Kneepkens set a career-high in scoring in back-to-back performances, while narrowly missing out on Utah's second triple-double all-time in a game against Kansas.

And while the accolades have been great, Kneepkens remains a team-first leader.

"It's really not about her, it's about the team, and the mere fact that she almost got the triple is a beautiful thing, because it really wasn't about her, it was about playing the game. ... I'm glad that it wasn't about, 'OK, let's do this for Gianna,' because that's against everything she believes, and it would really minimize what she has accomplished in all of her time," Betsy Kneepkens said. "So I think it was played out right."

Her effect on the game has made it so that she's getting real attention as a potential prospect to this year's WNBA draft, but whether she'd be drafted remains the biggest question.

Does she risk her last season at Utah — she earned a medical redshirt after last season — and declare for the WNBA draft or return to lead Utah for another season with a largely new roster and potentially improve her draft stock?

The veteran guard already declined a senior day celebration on Saturday, but said she remains "undecided" on her future. To Kneepkens, it's not even worth entertaining her future until the season actually comes to an end.

"It's just been focused on now, like if you don't focus on now then nothing in the future really comes," Kneepkens said. "So just focusing on the game, enjoying the moments with the seniors that I've loved playing with. So that's been my focus."

Her parents have been strong advocates for her to focus on the present and not look ahead to anything else, even as they'd love to see their daughter play at the highest level of the sport. But that day will come when — and if — it's supposed to come.

"If you're thinking about tomorrow, you are not giving everything today," Betsy Kneepkens said. "So we really emphasize every conversation, it's about today. It's about today's practice, it's about today's game. You are responsible to this organization, to this institution, you have to give it all today. So if you're thinking ahead about something, you're taking something away from what these people deserve today."

Whatever the future holds for Kneepkens, she remains one of the best shooters — and teammates — in the game.

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