WBB Preview: Aggies Continue Road Swing At Fresno State
Utah State’s star-stopping abilities will once again be put to the test as it faces Mia Jacobs and the Fresno State Bulldogs on Wednesday evening. The Aggies have seemingly played the cream of the crop when it comes to Mountain West talent so far, and Jacobs will ensure that trend continues.
The Bulldogs aren’t quite as complete and developed as Wyoming, Colorado State or Boise State, the trio of top Mountain West squads that Utah State has faced thus far, although they just beat Boise State to make a compelling case for themselves. The Bulldogs are 11-6 with a 2-2 conference record. The team itself may be a step behind the conference leaders, but the star of the show is not. Jacobs is one of the best players in the conference and is a massive part of Fresno State's early success.
Despite the steep competition Utah State has already faced in the form of the conference preseason Co-Players of the Year and other notable foes, she might be the strongest player the Aggies have seen so far. She is leading the conference in points and rebounds and is second in steals. She also makes the Fresno State game plan very simple: Let Jacobs loose, and things will probably work out just fine.
For their part, the Aggies have a much more complicated game plan, and are still patching it together as they go, painfully close to a breakthrough they've yet to find. Even as individual parts of the team, like freshman CJ Latta, veteran guards Cheyenne Stubbs and Mia Tarver, and forward Jamisyn Heaton show clear improvement, it hasn’t all come together for Wes Brooks' squad, which has dropped three of its last four by single digits.
If the Aggies can get production from their starters and find someone else to step up as well, they'll be in good shape. It’s all happened before, just at different times – Denae Skelton is capable of dropping 16 points, a fact she proved earlier in the year against GCU; Gracie Johnson is averaging 3.5 points, but her season high is nine; Elise Livingston is averaging 4.8 points but went off for 16 against Idaho; Sophie Sene’s season high is 10, up from her 4.9 average. Any combination of those players performing at or above their average would help to set Utah State up for success, especially if the scoring leaders are doing their parts as well.
Players To Know
Mia Jacobs: Jacobs is just a junior and is only in her second year at Fresno State after transferring in from La Salle, but she’s already made an impact on the Valley and the Mountain West. She is an elite scorer firmly among the best in the conference, and she's second in the nation with 11 double-doubles.
Last year, she was an all-conference honorable mention and ahead of this season, she was named to the preseason All-Mountain West team. It's no wonder why. Standing at 6-2, she beats players who match her size with her athleticism, and those who match her athleticism with her size. She can score at all three levels, and then do just about everything else on the basketball court as well.
For the year, Jacobs is averaging 18.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. She already has 31 three-pointers to her name, more than any Aggie, and is hitting 1.8 triples a night, seventh most in the league. She’s a scary player to scout even without the extra boost, but she is simply on another planet right now, coming off back-to-back 30-point double-doubles. She had 32 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, two steals and a block in a win over San Jose State and 30 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, three steals and two blocks in a win over Boise State.
The truth is, if she continues to play like that, Utah State won’t stand much of a chance – and that says more about her than the Aggies. She can take over games, and there isn’t much her opponents can do to cover up when she erupts for 30 points and 10 boards. The Spartans and Broncos couldn’t do it, and it's not likely that the Aggies could, either.
At this point, giving up something close to her average would be a relief. Coming into a game hoping a player drops nearly 20 sounds like a surefire way to lose, but that's the territory Jacobs currently finds herself in, and it's still much easier said than done. She’s about as tall as Sene with a three-point shooting percentage comparable to Stubbs, but with about 20 additional attempts on the season.
The Aggies will need to find ways to disrupt her three-point shooting, inhibit her path to the rim, and keep her off the glass, all at the same time. Part of the appeal of a hybrid do-it-all player like Jacobs is that she is a nightmare to match up against, and Utah State doesn’t have the silver bullet. It will be a team effort to take away all of her angles of attack, or to at least slow her down.
Kylee Fox: Fox is a fantastic sidekick and one that Utah State is familiar with. Last season, she had 14 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in Fresno and 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in Logan when squaring off with the Aggies.
With Jacobs playing the way she is, a sidekick is all Fox needs to be right now. She’s good for nearly 10 points and a handful of rebounds a night, plus she plays great defense and can pass the ball, making her especially valuable to Jacobs and the rest of the Bulldogs. She’s the third-leading scorer behind Jacobs and Mariah Elohim, but that doesn’t really define her role. In fact, she’s leading the team in minutes per game with 33, and if it weren’t for the all-conference caliber superstar on the court with her, she could easily be the one in the limelight.
She's central to this team's success and helps boost the players around her, leading the team in assists and averaging 9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Where Fox becomes especially dangerous is in her ability to shift from sidekick to main option. She hasn’t had to recently, but she can. If the Aggies can somehow stop Jacobs, Fox is capable of putting up some punishing figures – she had 21 against UC San Diego and has six double-digit games this year. If she’s not enabling a teammate for a big night, she’s having one herself. There doesn’t seem to be a way around that.
Maria Konstantinidou: Another player to watch out for is Konstantinidou. She’s a bit streaky, but can get up in scoring, and her conference slate is a prime display of that. In her four Mountain West games thus far, she has scored 0, 11, 5, and 11 points. Utah State would love to keep her in the 0-5 range.
With Jacobs, Fox, Elohim and even Saga Ukkonen taking care of business for the most part, her name hasn’t been called much. But, she’s still young and is clearly improving as the season goes on, with constant potential to heat up and boost an already impressive offense. In addition to her scoring, she’s a reliable force on the glass. This season she is averaging 5.8 points and 4.5 rebounds, second-most on the team.