Out of breath, Rong Niu walked through the Coleman Coliseum tunnel Saturday night in victory.

It was the end of a long day after flying overnight from San Francisco. There was time for a rest in the hotel before heading over to Alabama's basketball game with Mississippi State. In her long green coat and sweatshirt, Niu looked like any other fan walking in.

By halftime, the transformation was complete.

And Red Panda delivered.

Perhaps the most beloved intermission act in all of basketball, Niu travels the country flipping bowls from her foot to her head from a unicycle. It's frankly incredible.

Swapping the day clothes for signature leotard and white heels, the Red Panda needs just 5 1/2 minutes for a mistake-free show to blow the top off a gym. She hits the arena's four quadrants, placing the bowls on her foot and flipping them onto her head.

Before the show, the Red Panda sat down with AL.com and revealed some of the tricks behind this magic act.

There are 16 bowls. They're metal, painted white. Custom made, these aren't found in your local big box store. This set has seen better days, too. Some are chipped with white athletic tape hiding the blemishes.

This all started when she was 7. It was her dad's idea. Growing up in China, this was a traditional act.

And it took practice.

Try seven years before feeling confident about the act that tours the country today. She came to the United States in the late 1990s. Now she's beloved in arenas coast to coast.

Red Panda can't begin to guess how many times she's done this act. Maybe 40-50 times a year. She doesn't work with a company. It's all contract work.

Still, the whole routine doesn't feel robotic. She genuinely lights up talking about the thrill she gets every time she unicycles her way onto a new hardwood.

"I love it. I love performing," she said. "When the music starts, it's so familiar. I get so excited. I'm really into the act. The beginning is much more enjoyable. It's fun later the act goes on. It's only five and a half minutes with no mistakes. The later the act goes on, the minutes and minutes and the pressure gets higher and higher."

So, there's still a little anxiety after all these years?

"Oh definitely," she said. "Even if I don't drop it, I feel pressure. I always get a little bit of nerves right before I start."

The performance was flawless Saturday night. Every bowl made the projected flight from her toe to her head. The crowd, already in a lather with Alabama up 41-22, went nuts.

It's not always that perfect. There are off nights even for the Red Panda.

"I would say about 75-80 percent chance that I can make it," she said humbly. "Sometimes is a really bad day. And three times I couldn't make it. Ahh. It's so upsetting."

Who knows why it goes wrong sometimes.

"It's unpredictable," she said. "I really, don't know. I practice and I keep on practicing."

When there's time, those rehearsals can take a few hours. On days like Saturday, there isn't time. It can be a grind and the Red Panda doesn't get much time to take in the towns she visits. She laughs saying she doesn't get to eat the local food before a performance and by the time it's over, everything is closed.

It's not about that, though.

Red Panda is in it for the performance. She feeds off the crowd the whole way while maintaining the intense concentration that comes with unicycling with a full dish cabinet on her head.

The whole thing is mesmerizing. Coleman Coliseum halftime food sales certainly suffered since few people left their seats at the break. There was a buzz in the building about her before the tipoff -- a love the Red Panda doesn't take for granted.

"I feel like I'm very fortunate," she said. "I'm very lucky that all these universities and the NBA (teams) have had me all these years. I'm just very fortunate."

The sell-out crowd of 15,000-plus were still buzzing as the Red Panda exited to floor quietly, but with a genuine smile on her face.

Breathing heavily, the Red Panda retreated to the hallway just off Alabama's bench.

"Man," a fan waiting for the restroom said. "You rock."

With that, Niu was off. The check clears whether she sticks the flips or they hit the floor. But Saturday was a win for the Red Panda.

Sixteen bowls. Not one bounced Saturday night.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande.