WBB Preview: Utah State Welcomes Nevada To Logan For Senior Day

After notching their second win of the conference slate and their third of the year, the Aggies will be looking to get two in a row on Saturday afternoon as they host Nevada for Senior Day. Utah State will be honoring Allyzee Verdan, Samiana Suguturaga and Cheyenne Stubbs for their contributions to the program.

The teams played a competitive game in their first meeting on Jan. 11 in Reno, and Utah State’s comeback effort came up short as the Wolf Pack escaped with a 78-69 win. Nevada has been slumping lately, though, on a four-game losing streak with a 3-9 record in its 12 games since it hosted the Aggies.

“The first game we had a chance to win. We had it down to about a three-point game with a little over a minute left,” assistant coach Joe Haigh told The Aggship. “And it was way early in the season. Nevada is a different team now.”

Utah State is also a different team now, for the better – a sentiment shared by just about everyone within the program.

“We played (Nevada) early in the season, and I think we're a completely different team from then,” freshman guard CJ Latta said. “I think that we should do well. We all kind of have that mindset: We’re not the same team as the beginning of the year, and so it's nice to see that. It's the right time to turn it on."

“We've matured as a team,” Haigh added. “We've gotten better and that's just kind of natural, we're a very young team. So, we've had a couple more months of practice, and we're a little more solid in almost all areas.”

“The confidence is getting better and better,” Sophie Sene chimed in. “It just feels great… Everyone is having fun playing.” 

After Friday’s practice, Haigh laid out the game plan. There are a few changes the coaching staff wants to see, starting with an improved defensive performance based on adjustments they’ve made to the full-court press. Another is a better rebounding effort than Utah State produced in that first meeting. Haigh also mentioned the importance of staying out of foul trouble, and said that the team needs to show a continuation of the high-scoring offense that it has been deploying lately. 

To Haigh, the first two points go hand in hand. Starting with the defense, the staff has worked out some adjustments they think will be effective against the Wolf Pack’s press break. Utah State managed to generate some turnovers in the first matchup, forcing 17 on seven steals, but Nevada earned 15 assists and 14 fast-break points last time the teams played.

“We will do a better job defending in our press. Our press has gotten a lot better since early January, specifically (against) what Nevada did in the press break,” Haigh said. “We made an adjustment to how we press (and) our alignment in the press, and I think we'll cut down on a lot of the transition baskets that they got. They were able to beat not the front line of the press, but they threw it over the top, and we're more prepared for that now.”

According to head coach Wes Brooks, the team’s goal is to force opponents to shoot 37 percent or worse from the field. After letting Nevada shoot 44 percent last time, Haigh thinks the team’s goal is within reach.

“A big piece of them shooting a high percentage last game was their offensive rebounding, which puts them at the rim for easy shots,” he explained. “Then, they also got a ton of transition points when they were able to break our press.”

The team has a plan for that. He said rebounding is a key for this game, and has been very vocal about the importance of grabbing boards.

“I didn’t say, ‘Rebound,’ I said: ‘If you want to win, rebound.’ There’s a big difference,” Haigh told the team during practice. Afterward, he elaborated, saying, “Every game coach says (to) box out and rebound… we all say it, and we all say it all the time, but (sometimes we) just say the words and they don't mean anything. It's very specific to this game. If we rebound and hold them to one shot, we have an excellent chance of winning. So, I want that to be specific.”

Nevada is an adept rebounding team, particularly on offense. The Wolf Pack have a total rebound rate of 50.9 percent and an offensive rebound rate of 34.1 percent. When the teams met in January, the Aggies were outrebounded 40-31 and gave up 15 offensive boards worth 17 second-chance points for the Pack.

Haigh also views avoiding foul trouble as a big part of the game plan, as an improved defense is useless if an opponent is constantly shooting from the charity stripe.

“You know where you can't guard them? The free throw line,” Brooks is fond of saying.

When the Aggies went to Reno, they picked up 24 personal fouls and gave the Wolf Pack 22 free throws, which they converted into 18 points. Four Aggies had three or more fouls and Jamisyn Heaton fouled out. Every starter other than Elise Livingston picked up at least one. The only other Aggie to keep a clean sheet was Ava Smith, who played just one minute.

On the offensive end, Haigh is happy with some of the performances the team has produced, particularly their most recent one, in an 82-75 win over San Jose State. 

“We have to play a lot like we played in our last game. Our offense has come a long way. If we can continue to score 80, we’re going to beat a lot of teams doing that.”

That seems like it would hold true against Nevada, a team averaging only 62.4 points per game, the worst in the Mountain West. That is, however, where Utah State’s defense comes in. The Aggies are giving up an average of 78.8 points per game, also the worst in the Mountain West. The improved defense that Haigh hopes to see needs to show up to keep Nevada below that figure.

Amidst all the changes, the Aggies will also be looking to maintain a few performances. One of those will be Latta’s. She had 12 points, four assists and three steals in Reno, and plans to take heed to the pleas of Stubbs and her coaches to be aggressive in the rematch.

“Of course, to be aggressive, as (Stubbs and coaches are) telling me,” Latta said. “Everyone just wants me to be aggressive, and I think that's not only looking for my shots, but I like to pass and when I'm aggressive, it creates more for other people. I'm going to go into the game (and) be aggressive, be confident and just play the game that I know how to play and incorporate my team into it.”

Heaton also had a solid scoring performance against Nevada, despite her foul trouble, and would love to get back to double digits against the Wolf Pack. She recorded 11 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal before fouling out of the contest.

The star of the show, however, was Mia Tarver. The junior guard came off the bench and dropped a game-high 19 points and recorded four rebounds, an assist and two steals. She went 6 of 12 from the floor and connected on one of her three deep balls. She also produced at the stripe, where she hit 6 of 7. Getting anything close to that type of performance from Tarver will be a huge piece of the puzzle for the Aggies as they attempt to venture into unfamiliar territory by starting a winning streak.

The Aggies will need more out of Stubbs, who had nine, and from Livingston, who had three. They'll also look to get more from Sene, who was working her way back from an injury and finding he place on the team at the time. She struggled against the Wolf Pack and recorded only two points, but she has come a long way since then. Two games later, she tied her season high of 10 points, and on Feb. 8 she set a new season high in both points and rebounds with 12 each. Just three games ago, against Air Force, she raised the latter bar even higher with 16 rebounds. Sene recognizes how far she, and the team, have come.

“I think I’ve improved since the beginning of the year," Sene said. "At first, I didn't really have a lot of confidence in myself. But, at the end of the day, you just have to play hard and give everything you have for your team. I really think that these past few games, that's what I've been doing. And I think we're getting better as a team.”