Berry Wallace is back at the center of Illinois women’s basketball, and now she’s back on the national radar too.
The Illini star has been named to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List, giving her another chance to stack her name among the country’s top players. Wallace, a Pickerington, Ohio, product, is coming off a season in which she led Illinois with 18.4 points per game in 2026-27 and is expected to remain the team’s go-to scorer even with the talent around her.
This is the second time Wallace has landed on the watch list in her college career. She joins Makira Cook as the only two Illini to be selected twice, and she becomes the fourth player in program history to earn a spot on the list.
Wallace’s game gives Illinois a real centerpiece. The unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection can score at all three levels and brings the kind of defensive versatility that lets her line up against some of the best players in the country. She also logged huge minutes last season, leading the Big Ten with 35.7 per game, a sign of just how much the Illini leaned on her night after night.
Illinois should have help around her again, which could make Wallace even tougher to handle. Last season, teammates like Cearah Parchment, Destiny Jackson, and Maddie Webber helped spread the load. This year, the roster adds Divine Bourrage and brings back Gretchen Dolan and Manuella Alves, giving Wallace more support while keeping her in the spotlight.
The competition for the award is loaded. Wallace is one of 49 players on the watch list, alongside names like UConn’s Sarah Strong, Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge, Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, and USC’s Jazzy Davidson. Blakes averaged almost 30 points per game last season, while Cambridge is set to become the face of Ohio State.
Still, Wallace has already shown she can make her case. After the leap from freshman to sophomore year, she enters this season with a chance to push herself even further into the national conversation.
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Illinois Just Landed A Nonconference Showcase Fans Will Circle
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The agreement also reshapes Illinois schedule in a meaningful way, replacing Missouri on the 2027 and 2028 slates. The Illini also picked up FIU for 2027, and Eastern Illinois will no longer be on that years schedule, leaving Illinois with a nonconference picture that looks a little different and a lot more intriguing. [Read more 🡒]