WBB Preview: Utah State Hosts Strong UNLV Side

The Aggies still have a lot to figure out, and UNLV isn’t a team to do soul-searching against.

Utah State’s ever-changing lineup has kept a lot of the team’s top contributors from playing significant minutes together, and has made it impossible for players to carve out clear roles for themselves. The Aggies are starting to see progress on this front, but it’s painfully slow, and every time they take a step forward it brings about two more steps backward.

The centerpiece of the Aggie roster, Aaliyah Gayles, is back and is improving, but still getting acclimated to a team that keeps shifting around her. Jamisyn Heaton is back, but hasn't looked quite like herself yet, and it’s not just the mask that she’s been wearing. She’s been just fine on the glass and on defense, but her offensive game has been off since her return. She pulled down five rebounds in both games and picked up four steals and a block against New Mexico, but isn’t finding the net.

She is a 42.3 percent shooter in her DI career, but she’s 4-of-16 shooting since coming back from a broken nose and concussion. She went 2-for-9 from the floor and 0-for-3 from deep in her return, then hit 2-of-7 and 1-of-2 against Air Force, so she might be making progress there, but it’s too soon to tell. If she is making progress, she needs to continue to do that so she can get her offensive game back where it needs to be down the stretch.

Players Karyn Sanford, Elise Livingston and Rachel Wilson have been asked to fill various roles this year. They’ve answered the call admirably, but clarity down the stretch will help this team a lot.

The Aggies played surprisingly well against UNLV when they visited in January. Unfortunately for the Aggies, their path to relative success isn’t one they can take again. It was Marina Asensio and her 16 points, one rebound, three assists and two steals keeping the Aggies in the game in Las Vegas, but she suffered a season-ending injury late in the contest. Sophie Sene also had a great game with 14 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a block. She'll be joining Asensio on the sidelines for this game. 

Heaton had eight points, six rebounds and three steals. Livingston had just two points, but added five rebounds and four assists. Paloma Muñoz Herreros showed out in her 24 minutes off the bench and had 12 points, two rebounds, and an assist. Gayles didn’t get the chance to play her hometown team, but will play today. Gayles has had varying results on the offensive end since returning from her injury, but even when her shots aren’t falling, she is still contributing.

Her high score since returning is a career high of 24 points, which was accompanied by five rebounds, three assists and four steals. She went 1-of-11 shooting and 0-of-6 for just four points against New Mexico, but added four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in her most recent outing. She had only five points, but stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block.

For UNLV, Meadow Roland, Shelbee Brown and Jasmyn Lott combined for 57 of the team’s 69 points, 36 of the team’s 47 rebounds, five of the team’s 10 rebounds, and all three of the team’s blocks. Those three alone outscored and outrebounded the entire Aggie roster.

That trio, with Aaliyah Alexander facilitating things with a team-high 3.3 dimes per game (and 10.4 points for good measure), is difficult to slow down and nearly impossible to stop. Alexander is fourth in the conference in assists and fourth on the team in scoring. It’s challenging to call her a behind-the-scenes facilitator because of her high-end shot-making abilities, but her talents and role elevate the entire team and set Roland, Brown, and Lott up for outsized success on the court.

Players To Know

Meadow Roland: Roland, the 6-2 sophomore who was the lone Lady Rebel on the preseason all-conference team, is looking like a lock to keep her spot when the postseason awards roll out, and it looks like she’s helped make room for a few of her teammates.

She leads the team with 13.2 points per game, and leads the conference with 1.6 blocks per game. With nine rebounds per game, she is second to only Brown in both the team and conference leaderboards. Her 18-point, 14-rebound game against Utah State was excessive, but not rare. She’s posted eight double-doubles this year, including most recently when she had 14 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks against Colorado State.

After hanging 18 on the Aggies, she matched it with 18 on the Cowgirls in her next game, capping off a six-game run of double-digit scoring with two double-doubles before San Diego State slowed her down and held her to six points and six boards. She is averaging 13.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, a steal and 1.6 blocks per game.

Shelbee Brown: Brown is a senior in her first year with the Rebels. The 6-0 forward from Memphis started her career as a Memphis Tiger, then spent a year at Akron before joining the UNLV roster. 

Air Force has given Brown her best games as a Lady Rebel, but the Aggies aren’t far behind. She tied what was a season high of 16 points against Air Force with 10 rebounds, two assists and a steal. One game later she scored 16 again, this time against the Aggies. She met the Falcons again on January 21 and posted a new season high of 20 points along with eight rebounds, three assists, and a steal. 

She’s coming off a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double in a win over Colorado State. Brown averages 10.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game. She leads the conference in rebounds per game.

Jasmyn Lott: Lott’s best game of the year was against Utah State. Her 23 points were a season high, and her six rebounds weren’t far off.

Of the three leaders, Lott is the only one who was here to win a championship with UNLV when she played 33 games and averaged 3.5 points in the 2022-23 campaign. Now she’s trying to win a title as a starter.

She’s putting together a good campaign to do exactly that as she has her Rebels in second place in the conference with just two conference losses. She averages 13 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. She does a bit of everything, but is more of a pure scorer than the other two. They both contribute more on the glass than Lott, but she presents a significant three-point shooting threat.

Alongside Mariah Elohim, who comes off the bench to hit 40.2 percent of her threes, and Alexander who hits 34.7 percent of her threes, Lott spreads the floor and gives the Rebels an outside presence. Roland can connect from deep if she gets an open look, but Lott’s work on the perimeter helps open up the inside for Roland and Brown to go work down low.