Editor’s note: The Daily Illini sports desk sits down Sunday nights and decides which Illinois athlete or coach is our Illini of the Week. Student-athletes and coaches are evaluated by individual performance and contribution to team success.

The Illinois women’s basketball team started off the season with a new head coach. The team, which went 11-19 last season, had to adjust to new systems and a lack of depth. The Illini limped to a 6-5 record against unranked, nonconference opponents.

Illinois struggled on both ends of the court, especially in losses to Missouri Valley opponents Bradley and Illinois State. But the team showed promise in games against solid opponents such as Colorado and Iowa State, both of whom are now ranked.

Senior Karisma Penn was one of the nation’s top forwards. Junior Amber Moore was a consistent deep threat with All-Big Ten potential. Sophomore Ivory Crawford developed into a scoring threat. Sophomore Alexis Smith made a huge jump from bench warmer to a solid starting point guard, leading the Big Ten in assists.

Illinois was confident it could be better.

Illinois knew it had another weapon in its arsenal.

The weapon could be seen on the sidelines — the most animated member of the bench, in dreads and dress clothes constantly chattering, encouraging teammates and providing another set of eyes off the bench.

The weapon could be seen on the practice court. She shut down her otherwise offensively productive teammates, grabbed steals and attacked the basket.

In the team’s first scrimmage, the weapon scored 25 points, second only to Penn’s 29. The next closest was 10 or eight points, head coach Matt Bollant estimated.

The only question was: When could the Illini ignite Adrienne GodBold?

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GodBold — known around the program as NuNu — had played in 89 games in her career, averaging eight points per game. The 5-foot-11 guard was named Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year and Illinois MVP in 2012.

But, as well as she could play, GodBold wasn’t able to take care of life off the court. She had been suspended for the first five games of her sophomore season and the first game of her junior season.

Her senior year was the biggest slipup yet. She was academically ineligible for the fall semester.

“I knew I had messed up finishing up in May,” GodBold said. “I’ve been in a situation close to it before.”

GodBold petitioned her eligibility. She attempted to take online classes over the summer to raise her GPA, but funding did not go through. She finally accepted that she would miss the first 11 games of her final season at Illinois.

But GodBold, with the help from her coaches, was determined that she was not going to miss the second half.

“Going through the last three years, my academics wasn’t the greatest, but I didn’t have a chance to really focus on academics. With that being said, this semester, (my coaches) were letting me do any and everything I possibly needed to do to get my academics up,” GodBold said. “They said, ‘Whatever you need to do, if you need to sit out any practice, any workout, let us know and we will do anything.’ They had my back 100 percent.”

Illinois began its season on a rough note with a loss to Bradley in its second game and losing three games in a four-game stretch against BCS opponents. After back-to-back wins against Memphis and Oregon, Bollant said Illinois was “headed in the right direction.”

But in the final game before winter break on Dec. 21, Illinois blew an eight-point lead late in the second half and was significantly outrebounded in a 69-68 loss to Illinois State. The loss was Illinois’ fifth of the season.

GodBold went home after that game hopeful that she wouldn’t have to watch her team lose without being able to do anything about it ever again.

She spent the next few days on her mother’s iPad, furiously checking and rechecking to see if her final grades had been posted. Bollant would call every day to see if GodBold had heard anything, but for three days nothing appeared.

On Christmas Eve, GodBold received a call from one of her classmates saying that grades were up in one of her classes. She rushed to her mom’s iPad, where a B was waiting for her.

GodBold celebrated Christmas by checking her grades and saw that she had passed everything. She finished the semester with a 2.9 GPA, more than enough to become eligible for her final semester of basketball. She needed to finish the semester with a 2.0 overall GPA, the graduation requirement for the Communications major.

“Everything was finally in, I was just parading through the house,” GodBold said. “This was probably the best Christmas ever.”

Bollant was the first person GodBold called to alert that she was back. Her eligibility immediately turned out to be a Christmas present to the first-year head coach and his struggling team.

Bollant immediately thrust the senior into the starting lineup in place of junior Kersten Magrum against then-No. 6 Georgia.

GodBold scored a layup just 11 seconds into the game and the crowd and bench erupted.

NuNu was back.

She finished with 11 points and three rebounds after fouling out in 22 minutes. Still, GodBold played a role in her team’s 70-59 victory, the first over a ranked opponent this season.

She has gotten better in each game since returning.

After beating Georgia, GodBold recorded 20 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, but she still fouled out and committed eight turnovers in an overtime loss to Purdue.

She then scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and was better able to limit her turnovers in a win at Ohio State, but she still fouled out.

The Northwestern game on Jan. 10 marked the first and only time GodBold did not foul out this season. She registered 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals in the team’s first back-to-back road Big Ten win since 2004.

In her most recent game, GodBold had her best game yet. She scored a career-high 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds and notched four steals, while recording three blocks in a 79-75 loss to Michigan State.

“She is capable of playing like that all the time,” Bollant said. “Not every game she is going to score 28, but she can make plays, get to the rim, make (the opponents) have to double and help.”

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Since returning, GodBold has averaged 18.6 points and seven rebounds — both good for second on the team — and a team-leading 3.8 steals per game. 

Teammates knew GodBold would fit right into the new offense.

“She’s just so versatile. She can attack the basket,” Smith said. “She can shoot and get rebounds. She just takes our offense to another level.”

GodBold’s recent production has her team on pace for a winning record for the first time since her freshman season. She is also on pace to graduate with a communications degree in May.

After graduation, GodBold hopes to be selected in the WNBA Draft. If that doesn’t work out, GodBold plans on playing overseas.

But for now, GodBold’s goal is leading her team to the NCAA tournament.

“There is no ceiling (for this team). We can be a great NCAA team.”

Illinois is 3-2 since GodBold has returned, but it has faced significantly tougher competition in its last five games than in the 11 games without GodBold. The victory against Georgia provides a signature win for Illinois’ tournament resume. The Illini have plenty opportunities to prove themselves with statement wins as the season goes on, including games at No. 8 Penn State and No. 12 Purdue.

The Illini also have a new weapon committed to winning. 

“I just want to win right now because after this I’m done,” GodBold said. “It’s gone by so fast, it’s scary.”

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.