Northwestern women’s basketball coach Joe McKeown will admit it: the program has been rebuilding over the past two years.
With just six conference wins in the past two seasons and only 18 wins overall to 42 losses, the veteran head coach’s squad has had its worst back-to-back season performances.
“I reinforced what I already knew: that I hate losing,” McKeown said. “But you have wins within the season, and I liked how we played at the end of the year. … We were really competitive.”
Now, with new faces joining the squad and young players taking increased roles in the rotation, optimism ripples around the program. The winningest head coach in NU history has the opportunity to flip the narratives surrounding the program
“There’s a whole new energy around us,” McKeown said. “I really like that.”
McKeown, the Big Ten leader for wins among active coaches, sat down with The Daily on Monday to discuss the upcoming season. Here are four takeaways from the conversation, which mirrored the positive energy surrounding the squad.
1. Transfers join the rotation
The losing woes of the previous two years may be remedied by a roster overhaul featuring experienced transfers and talented freshman recruits.
Graduate student guard Kyla Jones and graduate student forward Taylor Williams joined the squad this season and will likely see extended time within the rotation. Junior forward Grace Sullivan transferred from Bucknell and will be a rebounding force on the glass.
“The three of them are really experienced, so they can pick (our system) up really quickly,” McKeown said. “Those three are really talented and have played a lot of basketball in big venues.”
Jones, a guard from Brown University, scored 1,097 points through three seasons with the Bears, just the 23rd player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point threshold. It’s a homecoming of sorts from Jones, who hails from Chicago.
Williams joins NU from Michigan, where she spent the 2023 season, but she also spent four years with Western Michigan. While with the Broncos, Williams also recorded more than 1,000 points. She holds a wealth of WMU school records.
Sullivan, a Mundelein, Illinois, native, enters the ’Cats rotation after two seasons at Bucknell. The 6-foot-4 junior will fill the frontcourt vacancy left by former NU forwards Paige Mott and Jasmine McWilliams, cleaning the glass for McKeown’s squad.
2. Freshman class ready to make an impact
Four new recruits enrolled in Evanston this fall, one making a short drive to campus and the other three traveling from both coasts to the Midwest.
Freshman guard Xamiya Walton comes to NU as a highly-touted recruit, ranked No. 50 in the ESPN HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings. Walton, who calls Chicago home, excelled at Butler College Prep as a four-year varsity starter.
McKeown has high praise for Walton, who he lauds for her three-point ability and called “smart” and “tough.”
“She’s gonna be a star,” McKeown said.
Freshman forward Tayla Thomas also joins NU as a highly-touted recruit, hailing from IMG Academy in Florida. The New Jersey native is, like Walton, a four-star prospect.
The other two recruits joining the squad are freshman guard Claire Keswick from Wrentham, Massachusetts and freshman guard/forward Kat Righeimer from Costa Mesa, California.
McKeown said Keswick has been dealing with a lingering injury during training camp but is a “pure shooter.” Righeimer, who set a record at her high school for made three-pointers in a game (eight), is another deep threat.
“Our four freshmen, coming in, just have a whole new life about them,” McKeown said. “They all come in from really successful high school, not just programs, but careers.”
3. Lau is well-equipped for the leadership role
Junior guard Caroline Lau, last year’s captain, appears primed to reprise her role this season. McKeown said she has been integral in the development of the newcomers on the roster.
“She’s trying to be consistent. She had some incredible games in the Big Ten last year, and you want to build off that,” McKeown said. “The seven new players really look to her for how we do things here.”
During practice Monday, Lau was a vocal leader throughout five-on-five action. After practice concluded, she stayed on the court to take extra shots.
Last year, in a win against Wisconsin, Lau went 9-of-9 from the field, dropping 24 points while logging six rebounds and five assists.
She started all 30 games in 2023-24, averaging 7.8 points per game and 5.4 assists per game. Lau also had 32 steals last year.
“I want her to be herself and have fun being Caroline Lau,” McKeown said. “She’s getting better every day –– she has a great work ethic.”
4. McKeown, now healthier, uses experience in coaching
McKeown, embarking on his 17th season at NU, has seen almost everything in collegiate women’s basketball. He’s been a part of the highs, like a pair of March Madness appearances and a Big Ten regular-season title, and a part of the lows, like the past two seasons.
McKeown said he frequently looks to the Veronica Burton era as one of the highlights of his tenure. During the 2019-20 season, which got cut short due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Burton and guard Lindsey Pulliam led NU to a 26-4 record. McKeown won Big Ten women’s basketball Coach of the Year.
“The thing that hurt us the most was COVID,” McKeown said. “We won the Big Ten, we were packing (Welsh-Ryan), I thought we could have made a run to the Final Four. We had pros at all five positions.”
NU has only had a losing record in six of McKeown’s 17 seasons. One was his first year, as he transitioned to Big Ten basketball from Atlantic 10 play. Two came in the last two years.
McKeown missed six games last season due to illness. Associate head coach Tangela Smith managed the floor in his stead. After his return to the court, he carried a crutch on the sidelines.
On Monday, after breaking down practice, McKeown walked purposefully, the crutch nowhere to be seen and last season’s absence from the sideline far beyond him.
He pointed toward the three-point line, where Lau was practicing her long-range shooting, and jokingly demonstrated his competitive spirit, which has fueled NU women’s basketball now for nearly two decades.
“I’m feeling great, I’m ready,” McKeown said. “I can try to beat her from the three-point line.”
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