SPOKANE, Wash. The last time South Dakota State visited Spokane, they were a different team.
The Jackrabbits tried to discover themselves after season-ending injuries to Haleigh Timmer and Kallie Thiesen and although they had won six of their first nine games, their Dec. 17 trip to Gonzaga ended in an 83-58 loss. But SDSU hasnt lost since a 58-46 defeat to Creighton on Dec. 21 and they enter Saturday nights first-round NCAA Tournament game with fifth-seeded Utah (22-10) with a 27-5 record and a 21-game winning streak.
“I think we would be excited no matter where we were playing,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said on Friday. “Hopefully we have a little bit better mojo than we had the last time that we were here…but we are here a different team.
One of the most notable differences has been the emergence of SDSUs young players. Sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer parlayed a strong start into the Summit League Player of the Year Award, averaging 17 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting 59.1 percent from the field.
Johnston complimented Brooklyn Meyer’s progress throughout the season on Friday and how she’s become one of the top post players around.
“Early in the year we had games that she would really take over and have great games but we were also a little up and down early on as a team and Brooklyn as a post player,” Johnston said. “That’s just a position that relies on everybody else to be able to make some shots around you and you have to get on the ball and as everybody else started to play better offensively, I thought Brooklyn’s game really took off as well.”
Another difference was the breakout of junior guard Paige Meyer, who was recovering from a foot injury in the early part of the season. After starting on a minutes restriction, Meyer’s breakout came a week after the Jackrabbits last trip to Spokane as she scored a career-high 37 points in a double-overtime victory at Northern Arizona on Jan. 3.
“She wasn’t even playing full games,” Johnston recalled. “We were really kind of just limping along then and as we got going, we just got healthier and we were able to get some key players back into the lineup and playing well.”
Paige Meyer continued to thrive throughout conference play as she is averaging 15.3 points and 4.1 assists per game. She won the Summit League Tournament MVP after averaging 20.6 points, 5.3 assists and 2.3 steals over three games in Sioux Falls and was joined by several other young players who made gains as the season progressed.
Sophomore guard Madison Mathiowetz wound up third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.8 points per game and junior forward Mesa Byom averaged 7.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game after cracking the starting lineup midway through the season.
Sophomore guard Ellie Collbeck and freshman Jenna Hopp have also contributed in the backcourt, while Tori Nelson provided senior leadership to bring the team together when SDSU began its win streak.
The progress may have been sudden to those watching games in the stands, but Johnston attributed the growth to the constant work behind the scenes.
If you watched us practice a year ago or looked at how much they came in the gym and worked on their gameeven when they didnt have a big role is incredibly impressive, Johnston said on Tuesday. All those things that theyve done prepared them for this opportunity and theyve made the most of this moment.
But while the Jacks have overcome their adversity, theyre not the only team that has had a difficult path to the tournament.
Utah has navigated its own difficult path that began with a knee injury to second-leading scorer Gianna Kneepkens on Dec. 2. While the junior was a two-time All-Pac 12 player coming into the year, junior guards Kennady McQueen (10.4 points, 3.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds per game) and Ines Viera (8.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals per game) have also stepped up on the perimeter.
The emergence of young players on the outside helped the Utes strength in the post, which is led by senior Alissa Pili. A three-time All-Pac-12 selection, Pili averages 20.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game and will be the top priority for the Jacks to stop on Saturday.
She is elite and one of the best players in the country, so we have to have a plan for her, Johnston said. We cant just rely completely on one-on-one defense, whether it be zone stuff or other things. Were going to have to have a plan for how we try to slow her down a little bit because they run a lot of offense through her and shes not easy to help on and double because she is a really good passer.
Brooklyn Meyer added that going up against her would be one of the biggest challenges the Jacks will face during Saturday’s game.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Brooklyn Meyer said. “She’s obviously a really good player and I feel like it will be a good challenge for me defensively to try to do everything I can. I have a lot of respectively and obviously, we’re just going to have to give our best effort.”
Johnston added that the Utes play a similar style to the Jacks thanks to their ability to shoot from the outside with a 36.6 percent 3-point percentage and their size in the middle with forwards Jenna Johnson and Rapid City native Reese Ross. Johnston also mentioned that the Utes have seen a higher level of competition playing in the Pac-12, which had six teams ranked in the top 20 of the final NCAA net rankings.
Paige Meyer saw some of the similarities between the Jacks and the Utes but added that it should be a fast-paced game.
“They like to play fast and they have a lot of really good shooters…and a really good post player,” Paige Meyer said. “I feel like just being solid defensively and being able to adjust to all of the different things they do is going to be big for us.”
The Utes are just one key difference the Jacks will notice on this trip to Spokane. Should SDSU win, the Jacks will face the winner of No. 4 seeded Gonzaga and No. 13 UC Irvine. The Bulldogs are a team that was also in line for a higher seed before losing to Portland in the West Coast Conference Tournament.
There will be more media, more attention and more distractions during this trip but the goal remains the same. While the stage has evolved, so have the Jackrabbits and theyll hope to stick to their game as a team thats looking to upset Utah on Saturday night.
Weve done a great job but we need to raise our level of play to match [Utahs] physicality, their athleticism, quickness and intensity, Johnston said. To me, thatll be one of the biggest things we always have to do as we go into the NCAA Tournament.
Leave a Reply