WBB Preview: Aggies Begin Mountain West Climb Against Colorado State

This year’s iteration of Colorado State looks very different from previous ones, thanks almost entirely to the departure of McKenna Hofschild – the four-time All-Mountain West Team honoree, 2023-2024 Mountain West Player of the Year, Colorado State's second all-time scorer and the all-time assist leader in Mountain West and Colorado State history. That's a pretty big vacancy to fill.

Even without the generational talent of Hofschild, the Rams still have plenty of quality minutes on the roster this time around. They reloaded with two newcomers in particular who have turned some heads: Kloe Froebe, who was picked as the Mountain West preseason Freshman of the Year, as well as Emma Ronsiek, the sister of fellow CSU player Hannah Ronsiek, who was promptly named preseason Co-Player of the Year and preseason Newcomer of the Year for the MWC.

Underneath all the personnel changes, it’s still a Ryun Williams team. The Rams run a deliberate offense that prioritizes process over speed. They're one of the slower teams in the country, and they are certainly a couple of steps short of Utah State, averaging 68.3 possessions per game to Utah State’s 77.7. The payoff for the Rams is an almost total lack of mistakes. They're averaging 8.7 turnovers per game, fewer than anyone else in the country.

The offense is heliocentric with Emma Ronsiek at the center of it, an understandable arrangement for a team with the conference's third-leading scorer. They run a clean, dynamic system that moves the ball and doesn’t often waste possessions. They take a healthy dose of three-pointers and are used to watching them hit the net. Their offense is so efficient that they have practically sworn off offensive boards, becoming the worst offensive rebounding team in the county with an ORB rate of just 15 percent. When they are grabbing rebounds, which happens more frequently on defense than on offense, it comes from the backcourt. As has become the standard for the Rams, this team boasts excellent guard play, and relies on that strength to lead the team in just about everything.

The Rams are putting together a good campaign so far, and are on pace for their sixth winning season in a row. Behind UNLV, the Mountain West is probably a four-horse race, featuring Utah State’s three next opponents in Colorado State, Wyoming and Boise State, with San Diego State in the mix as well. Of the bunch, the Rams are an interesting contender, and while it's too early to tell now, could easily emerge as the leader of the pack behind the untouchable juggernaut of UNLV.

They tout a record of 9-4 and had a three-game win streak going with wins over Gonzaga, UTEP and Georgia before falling to Stephen F. Austin, 80-69. Emma Ronsiek led the team in scoring and rebounding with 18 and five, but it wasn’t enough to upset the very talented Lumberjacks.

Overall, the Rams pose a really tough matchup because of how recalcitrant they are to fall into any of Utah State’s traps. They aren’t likely to be intimidated into speeding up their game, and they won’t be making many unforced errors to contribute to the chaotic track race Utah State wants to run.

Utah State’s path to victory relies on the Rams having a cold shooting night, and keeping them off the glass. If the Aggies can force some turnovers, it would go a long way in getting this Colorado State team out of its game plan. On the other end, Utah State won't play a turnover-free game. It’s just not what this team does. But, if the Aggies can stay alive on the boards and have enough positive possessions to make up for it, they could mitigate the damage done by turning the ball over so often.

Players To Know

The Ronsiek Sisters: The Ronsiek sisters, Hannah and Emma, are central to almost everything this team does, on both ends of the floor. Hannah is a 5-11 guard and Emma is a 6-2 forward. Together, they account for team-highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals, responsible for 26.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game. 

Hannah Ronsiek has already established her family name in the Mountain West. If the Aggies know her name, it’s because she played her role really well in her trip to Logan last year, recording eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal. 

This is Hannah’s third year at Colorado State and her second as a full-time starter. She played 32 games and earned three starts as a freshman. but really took off last year as a complementary star alongside Hofschild, logging 8.5 points, a team-high of 6.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. 

Now a complementary star to her sister, she has become even more of a scoring threat. She is averaging 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game this season. Her slight decline in rebounding is mostly negligible at this point in the year, and she is matching her assist number despite her uptick in scoring.

Emma Ronsiek is partially the beneficiary of her sister paving the way for her, but only partially. Before the season, the Mountain West knew the Ronsiek name because of Hannah, but Emma has made quite the name for herself in her career before heading to Colorado State. She's a grad transfer from Creighton, where she was an outright superstar, twice named to the All-Big East First-Team, and starting all but six games in a four-year career with the Blue Jays. As a senior, she averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from deep to help lead Creighton to the round of 32.

Upon arriving in Fort Collins, Emma found high expectations, and some early accolades to match. In addition to being named the preseason Newcomer of the Year and the preseason Co-Player of the Year alongside Wyoming’s Allyson Fertig, she was also named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List. She has already soared to meet those expectations, averaging 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Kloe Froebe: An impressive high school career earned Froebe preseason Freshman of the Year honors in the MWC. In 2024, she was named the Illinois Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year and Illinois Miss Basketball, and was the runner-up the year prior. Averaging 28.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.2 steals and 4.8 assists, she led her team to a 38-0 record and, with a state-title game record of 36 points and six assists, the 3A state championship. She was a four-time Class 3A First-Team selection and finished her career as the fifth-highest scorer in Illinois state history. 

The 5-8 guard hasn’t missed a beat adjusting to the college level, albeit as a utility player rather than a first option. She was held scoreless in her first two college games, playing just 14 minutes against San Francisco and seven minutes against Oregon State, but she popped off in her third game, scoring 14 points against BYU. Most recently, she had 10 points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal against SFA. Froebe is averaging 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

Stats To Know

Turnover Percentage: Turnovers are a common theme for Utah State, but against Colorado State, it’s a particularly relevant topic.

In this facet lies the quickest way for the game to get out of hand for the Aggies. The Rams just don’t give the ball away. They are averaging an NCAA-best 8.7 turnovers per game with a turnover rate of 11.9 percent, third-best in the country. Utah State, on the other hand, is giving up 20.4 turnovers a game and has a turnover rate of 22.6 percent. There's not much Utah State can do offensively or defensively to make up for that kind of difference, so the Aggies will need those turnover numbers to converge a bit. If the Aggies can protect the ball and force the Rams into making some mistakes, they can give themselves a chance. If they can't, there’s not much they can do to overcome that kind of turnover deficit.

To make matters worse, the Rams are achieving those numbers with impressive assists numbers as well. They're dishing out 15.7 assists per game, and 66.5 percent of their shots are assisted. Their 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio is the fifth-best in the nation.

Three-Point Shooting Percentage: Both teams shoot a lot of threes, and get a lot of their production from deep. The Rams are earning 40.2 percent of their points from behind the arc, while Utah State is at 39.4 percent. Both of those numbers are quite high, and the teams are ranked ninth and 14th in the country, respectively. 

Both teams reach that number by heaving a lot of threes. Colorado State has a three-point rate of 41.1 percent and Utah State’s is at 42.2 percent, and again, both are among the leaders in the sport at 16th and 13th.

If the Aggies can neutralize other Colorado State advantages and make the Rams pay for their weaknesses, this game could come down to who has the better shooting night. Colorado State’s three-point hit rate of 33.8 percent has the advantage over Utah State’s 27.6 percent, but if the Aggies are hitting threes and the Rams aren’t, it could give Utah State a chance.