POCATELLO — Amid all the commotion of Ryan Looney’s high-energy basketball practices, it’s never hard to track down Chidi Udengwu.

If you’re not careful, you might mistake his voice for the head coach’s.

Idaho State’s spirited senior is authentically loud. But that’s just fine with Looney. ISU’s first-year head coach preaches effort and energy, and Udengwu carries his onto the court as one of the Bengals’ key bench players.

“It just (comes) from within,” Udengwu said. “Outside the court, I’m a loud guy, so it wouldn’t make any sense to get to the court and be quiet. There always has to be that one person on the team . ... There always has to be the person that’s kind of enforcing everything that’s not a coach, kind of like the voice in the locker room, voice on the court, voice while you guys are playing defense, stuff like that.”

Udengwu’s impact on the team is hard to measure from box scores. It’s not his 4.6 points or 4.4 rebounds that get him 17.2 minutes per game.

It’s Udengwu’s advanced metrics that illuminate his role as the Bengals’ bench catalyst. He’s the team’s most efficient rebounder and draws nearly seven fouls per 40 minutes — mostly charging calls, which are almost always celebrated with a scream to the skies or a fist pound on the hardwood.

“We really like the energy that he plays with,” Looney said, “and are trying to reward him because of it.”

Looney and Udengwu’s shared passion for energized basketball kept Udengwu in Pocatello. Had anyone else been hired to take over the program, Udengwu may have opted to play his final college basketball season elsewhere, as he was faced with challenges soon after arriving on campus.

The 6-foot-7 former point guard transferred to ISU from San Bernardino Valley Community College last season. His first obstacle was abandoning his role as a primary ball handler and sliding into the post.

He made a splash early, sinking the game-winning free throws at the end of ISU’s second game of the season — a 72-70 victory at Boise State. Nine days later, he had 11 points and 11 rebounds in a home win over Bethesda.

He played well through nine nonconference games, averaging 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game, shooting 55.6% from the floor.

But Udengwu’s playing time dwindled by the time ISU got into Big Sky Conference play. He played 72 seconds in the conference opener against Idaho, 2 minutes against Southern Utah and logged his first ‘did not play’ against Northern Arizona. His playing time was sporadic over the rest of the month, and he played his final 4 minutes of the season on Jan. 31 in a 16-point home loss. He didn’t appear in ISU’s final 11 games of the season.

Udengwu didn’t go into detail regarding the reasons for his benching, chalking it up to “ego problems, even me personally. I wasn’t as mature as I am now.”

After the season, Udengwu considered transferring out of Idaho State. But Looney’s hiring helped change his mind.

“When I met coach Looney, I just knew,” Udengwu said. “I saw his coaching staff that he brought in. We really mesh well, personalities mesh well.

“He’s a high-energy guy, I’m a high-energy guy. That’s a big part of it.”

Now, Udengwu is tied for the team lead in bench minutes. An injury to projected starting center Brayden Parker, plus fatigue and foul trouble for Malik Porter, have helped Udengwu maintain his role — one Looney won’t guarantee once Parker returns.

But Looney still plans to reward Udengwu’s infectious attitude. He’s earned that much.

“He plays with such great energy, he’s always going to be able to find a way to get himself on the floor at least a little bit,” Looney said.