WBB Preview: Utah State And Fresno State Set For Rematch

It’s going to sound familiar, but it’s worth mentioning again (and again, and again). The last time these teams played, Utah State was without Marina Asensio and Aaliyah Gayles.

Despite it being only the second full game without either of its stars, Utah State’s offense was, for the most part, intact. It wasn’t Utah State’s offense, but Fresno State’s offense (or Utah State’s defense, rather) that caused problems for the Aggies.

The Aggies took a 5-3 lead in the opening minutes of the contest, but a 19-5 run for Fresno State pretty much decided the game in the first quarter. The Bulldogs led by 42-25 at halftime and it turned into a 30-point blowout. Elise Livingston tallied 16, Jamisyn Heaton 15, and the other three starters combined for eight.

The Aggies re-added Rachel Wilson, who missed the previous game with a concussion, to the lineup, but were still short-handed. Fresno State took advantage and played 10 different players who each spent at least five minutes on the floor. 

It was a bit of a breakout game for Livingston. It was a season high and her third double-digit game of the year and her first after a ten-game drought. She upped her season high by a point in her next game when she scored 17 against Boise State and matched it in her last outing with 17 points and two rebounds.

Gayles didn’t play against Fresno State, and she’s a player to watch on the Utah State side of this bout. Her performance has been sporadic since her return. Her exceptional talent and athleticism give her a high floor. At worst, Gayles has been acting as a role player. At best, she’s been a high-scoring all-conference-caliber offensive force.

She notched back-to-back 12-point games against Wyoming, then followed it with 24 points against GCU. She then scored four, five and eight in a three-game stretch with a combined 3-of-24 shooting performance. She has been active on the glass and on the defensive end, and even when she’s not dropping double digits, she is involved on offense and has been averaging 3.6 assists in her last five games.

The thing is, Gayles isn’t a role player on this team. It’s great that the worst performance she can muster still mimics that of a starting-caliber role player, but she is a star. Her involvement on off-shooting nights is impressive, but she needs to be consistently leading the team, if not the game, in scoring. She’s not going to score 24 every game, but she is one of the best players in the conference with a ceiling so high that we don’t even know where it is. The team is better when the ball is in her hands.

Off nights will still happen, and when they do, Gayles has proven her ability to facilitate the offense around her and contribute off the ball. Livingston, Heaton and Sanford have all proven that they can step up from the solid and crowded second-option tier behind her and do the heavy lifting of offense.

Defensively, not many teams in the conference have an answer for Gayles at her best, and the Bulldogs are no different. Offensively, not many teams in the conference have anyone who can keep up with Gayles at her best, and the Bulldogs are no different. The answer, if they have one, is probably in Emilia Long or Danae Powell. The two make an impressive guard duo averaging a combined 24.8 points, 5.8 assists and 3.9 steals. Jaisa Gamble, the 6-0 forward, fits into that top three for the Bulldogs as well, but probably won’t spend as much time matched up directly with Gayles.

Another familiar but noteworthy storyline is Utah State’s home-and-away splits. Utah State’s roster has forced it to become a bit of a chameleon, morphing itself into a new team every few days, but regardless of who is on the court, it has looked like two different teams this year. The Aggies are 5-6 at home and 1-11 on the road.

It’s apparent just by watching the team play, or looking at its record, but that trend is starkly visible in this season’s Air Force series. Hosting Air Force resulted in a 12-point victory while playing in Colorado Springs resulted in a 23-point loss – a 35-point swing.

There wasn’t a difference between the two 11-point losses to UNLV and the Aggies actually bucked the trend in their back-to-back series against the Cowgirls, losing by 12 on the road and 18 at home a few days later. The Aggies would need to improve by 31 points to beat Fresno State, and yet, that doesn’t seem entirely outside of the realm of possibility.

Fresno State is solidly in the middle of the pack and is coming to town with a three-game win streak, but Utah State has competed with better teams than this. Most recently, Fresno State picked up an impressive victory over Boise State, snapping a nine-game Bronco run. Powell used a 6-of-12 shooting performance from the floor, a 3-of-4 performance from deep and a 7-of-12 performance from the line to collect a game-high 22 points. She added a rebound, two assists and three steals. Long had an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double with three assists. Gamble had six points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 18 minutes of play. 

Ava Marr also had a notable performance with nine points and three rebounds. Indiya Clarke came off the bench and added nine points as well, and seven rebounds and an assist to go with it. They outrebounded the Broncos 42-39. When Utah State played the Broncos, Boise State won the battle of the boards 38-30, and when Utah State and Fresno State met last, Fresno State cleaned up with a 47-29 rebound differential.

Long and Powell had great games when these teams met earlier, and there’s no reason to assume it will be different this time. The Aggies will need to hone in on one or both to close the gap. Long had a game high of 21 points, which she earned by going 8-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-4 from range. She added four rebounds, five assists, and a steal. In her last three games, she has dropped 19, 23 and 18 points, and is averaging 13.5 on the season along with 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.4 steals. She leads the team in points, assists, and steals.

Powell had 13 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. She is averaging 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Gamble had 12 points, eight rebounds, an assist and four steals. She is now averaging 8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals. She also leads the team with half a block per game. Djessira Diawara and Marr saw outsized success against the Aggies. Against her season average of 5.3 points, Diawara dropped 12, and against her season average of 6.3, Marr dropped 16.

For Diawara, the 6-3 senior who Utah State saw last year with San Jose State, it was a season high and only her second game of the year in double figures. She also added five rebounds, an assist, and two steals. Utah State's work of containing her, and of contending in the paint writ large, will be much harder with Sophie Sene officially sidelined for the season (shoulder).

Marr is a 5-9 freshman, and her performance against Utah State was less of an anomaly. She had already set a career high of 20 points by the time she scored 16 on the Aggies, and it was her sixth game in double-digit territory. She has since added another.