University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Spotlight: Kionna Kellogg
12/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Note: This is a feature story on freshman forward Kionna Kellogg that ran in last Thursday's Minnesota Basketball Game Program. Kellogg, a native of Ames, Iowa, has played in all 12 games for the Gophers and averaging 1.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. She had a career-best six points in the Dayton game and grabbed a career-high seven boards versus San Diego State. Kellogg talks about her father's influence on her game and about choosing to come to Minnesota.
By Justine Buerkle, Athletic Communications student assistant
Children's physical characteristics, like hair color or body type, come from their parents' genes. It often seems like sports, too, are passed down in this manner. In any given sporting event on television, the commentators will likely mention a player whose mother or father competed in collegiate or professional athletics years ago. Minnesota freshman forward Kionna Kellogg is one of those people.
Her father, Japannah, played basketball at Southwest State (now Southwest Minnesota State). The younger Kellogg started playing the sport at a young age, beginning with camps in kindergarten, then recreational and school teams, and then AAU and high school ball. Throughout the years, she had guidance from her father.
"He had a lot of influence [on me]," Kellogg said. "He coached a little bit at Southwest, as well, and so I was always around basketball, always at the gym or at least around his office. So I've just always been around the sport."
Kellogg's 15-year-old sister, Shaya, is also a talented player, and she and Kionna would go to the gym with their father or do morning workouts before school together. But when it came time to choose where to play college basketball, Kellogg decided to move away from her family.
Living in Ames, Iowa, Kellogg was basically in Iowa State's backyard. In fact, both of Kellogg's parents work at Iowa State. Her mother, Sara, is the assistant director of judicial affairs in the dean of students office. Japannah is the director of the student support services program. Ames High School, Kellogg's alma mater, calls its sports teams the "Little Cyclones."
Despite the family and geographical connections to Iowa State, Kellogg says her parents didn't push her to become a Cyclone.
"If I was going to say where I was going to go, they wanted to know the reason and that it was for the right reasons, but they pretty much let me choose," she said.
When it came time to decide, Kellogg chose Minnesota over Iowa State and other schools that had offered her scholarships. When asked what her reasons were, she was ready with an explanation.
"I think that after being around the staff and the players, I just knew this was the place I wanted to be," Kellogg said. "Plus, Minneapolis, having the cities right here, is a little more diverse than Ames, Iowa, as well as getting out of my town and right where my parents were-I guess closer to a college experience."
Kellogg was an all-state player in Iowa, as well as a McDonald's All-America nominee. So there were probably plenty of fans who would have liked to see her stay close to home. But Kellogg said that her decision generally received positive feedback.
"It wasn't too big of a deal, I don't think," she said, "but I know my friends were all like, 'You should have stayed here, I could have seen you play,' but other than that [it was not a big deal]."
Minneapolis is only a few hours away from Ames, so Kellogg did not have to travel far geographically to get to the University of Minnesota. But the distance between high school and college basketball is a tougher obstacle to overcome.
"I think it's a lot more intense as far as practicing, the extra workouts, the amount of hours we're in the gym is like extremely higher than it was in high school, and the intensity, and you don't really get many days off," Kellogg said. "You don't get to take breaks. It's just a lot more intense."
She is continuing to adjust to the college game and getting to know her teammates better. She said that she has meshed especially well with junior Nicole Mastey and fellow freshman Micaëlla Riché. Kellogg says her current role on the team is "to grow up as a freshman and [speed up] my learning curve, and then just contribute off the bench."
Kellogg has been averaging more than 10 minutes per game this season and has played in all nine of the Gophers' games thus far. She is averaging 2.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest. She may not have huge numbers now, but Kellogg is part of the rotation and is getting the chance to learn through experience. She was her team's leading rebounder in high school, and if she continues to improve in this area, she could be a major asset for the Gophers.
Her parents have been to Williams Arena a few times this season to see her play, and they will continue coming to games when they can. As a former player and coach, as well as a parent, Japannah will still have advice for his eldest child.
"I think he'll always kind of put in his two cents, but nothing that's going against what the coaches are saying, just being supportive," Kellogg said.
Even while she is away from home, Kellogg carries with her the lessons her parents taught her. Her father remains one of the big influences on her basketball career.
"I think he's put in the situation to kind of learn myself, that I need to make the most of the time that I get on the floor," she said. "That's been something he's always reminds me of as I continue to play."
