AGGIE TIP-OFF
Utah State (1-1, 0-0 MW) heads to the road for the first time in the 2022-23 season for a pair of non-conference tilts. First, the Aggies will take on in-state foe Utah Tech (1-1, 0-0 WAC) on Monday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. (MT) before heading east to face Arkansas State (0-1, 0-0 SBC) on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. (MT).
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Radio coverage will be provided by 92.3 KBLU with Ajay Salvesen calling play-by-play. Live stats and play-by-play information will be available through Sidearm, while updates will also be provided through the team's social media outlets. Links to each option will be available online prior to the game.
 
AGGIES VERSUS TRAILBLAZERS
Tuesday's game will be the fifth all-time meeting between the Aggies and Trailblazers. Utah State leads the series, 3-1, and has won each of the previous three meeting by double-digits. This will be the first meeting between the two sides in St. George, Utah. USU is 37-33 all-time versus current WAC opponents.
 
AGGIES VERSUS RED WOLVES
Utah State and Arkansas State will meet for only the second time in program history on Saturday after the two sides initially acquainted themselves last season in Logan. Utah State won 66-65 after being reduced to only five players late in the second quarter due to several disqualifications. USU is undefeated versus current Sun Belt opponents with a 4-0 record all-time.
 
SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS
Head coach JD Gustin enters his seventh season at the helm of Utah Tech, compiling a record of 61-80 during his tenure. The Trailblazers went 10-19 last season, including a 6-12 mark in WAC play. Eight letterwinners return from last season's squad, including three starters, highlighted by returning leading scorer Breaunna Gillen who averaged 15.2 points last season. Emily Isaacson returns as the team's leading rebounder. As a team last year, Utah Tech scored 67.0 points per game while allowing 72.3 points per game to their opponents. The Trailblazers shot 41.2 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from behind the arc and 69.6 percent from the FT lines. Opponents managed to shoot 39.8 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from 3-point range. Utah Tech was outrebounded by 4.6 rebounds per game last season, pulling down 37.2 boards per game. The Trailblazers also averaged 14.2 assists with 16.4 turnovers per game while forcing 14.3 turnovers per game from their opponents.
 
In their first two games of 2022-23, the Trailblazers lost to Washington, 87-74, before rebounding for a 101-75 win over Benedictine Mesa. They have shot 43.0 percent from the field across the two games, plus 30.0 percent from 3 and 84.0 percent from the charity stripe. Utah Tech has garnered 43.0 rebounds per game while its opponents have managed 45.0 boards per contest. The Trailblazers have recorded 20.5 assists and 14.0 turnovers per game this season and have forced 14.5 turnovers per game.
 
SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES
Head coach Destinee Rogers heads into her first season as the head coach at Arkansas State after serving as the interim head coach for the final 17 games of 2021-22. The Red Wolves finished 8-10 under Rogers to finish out the season, going 12-16 overall with a 5-9 record in conference play. Five letterwinners, including three starters, return to this year's squad. Lauryn Pendleton returns as the team's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 11.3 points and 4.6 rebounds last season. As a team last year, Arkansas State scored 77.6 points per game and held opponents to 73.0 points per game. The Red Wolves shot 42.1 percent from the field, 33.2 percent from behind the arc and 72.2 percent from the free throw line. Opponents managed to shoot 43.2 percent frrom the floor, including a 31.1 percent mark from 3-point range. Arkansas State rebounded 39.5 rebounds per game, outrebounding their opponents by 0.2 boards per contest. ASU also recorded 14.5 assists with 14.9 turnovers per game, forcing its opponents into 17.2 turnovers per game. This season, the Red Wolves are also bolstered by the arrival of Izzy Higginbottom, a transfer from Missouri.
 
In the Wolves' first game of the season, ASU lost, 59-56, at Louisiana Tech. Arkansas State shot 33.3 percent from the floor, including 30.8 percent from 3-point territory and 83.3 percent from the FT line. Their opponent, meanwhile, recorded marks of 44.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the arc. ASU lost the rebounding battle, 37-35, and recorded 10 assists to 15 turnovers. The Red Wolves forced 12 turnovers in the contest.
 
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Utah Tech maintains nine players from the state of Utah on their roster, including redshirt freshman Amber Kartchner, a native of Logan who began her collegiate career at BYU. Arkansas State redshirt sophomore Leilani Augmon spent her 2021-22 season at Salt Lake Community College, averaging 9.4 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Bruins.
 
ICYMI
The Aggies opened their 2022-23 by splitting a two-game home stand versus the College of Idaho and Southeastern Louisiana. Against COI in the season opener, USU never trailed in a 75-58 win. Four Aggies scored in double figures, led by sophomore Cristina Oliva with 17 points. Oliva shot 5-7 from 3-point range in the contest. Graduate guard Maria Carvalho tallied a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three steals. Junior Tamiah Robinson led USU in assists with four while graduate Prima Chellis snatched a team-high five assists.
 
Against the Lions, USU fell in their comeback attempt, 78-68. After trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, Utah State stormed back to trim the deficit to 64-62 midway through the final period before a late SLU run iced the game. Graduate guard Mayson Kimball led USU in the contest with 24 points, going a perfect 5-5 on 3-point attempts and recording six rebounds. Carvalho again led the Aggies in rebounding with eight boards to accompany 17 points and four assists. Junior guard Olivia Wikstrom was USU's final scorer in double figures with 10 points, also recording a team-high three steals in the contest.
 
PUTTING IN THE ARD WORK
Utah State head coach Kayla Ard put in a record of 8-10 in nonconference play across her first two seasons at the helm of the Aggies, the best record by an Aggie coach in nonconference play in their first two seasons since Cindy Perkins in 1978-80. This season, Ard became the first coach in USU history to win her first three season openers.
 
COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING
Utah State ranks near the top of the Mountain West in multiple categories. The Aggies rank in the top five in the conference in 3-point percentage (43.6 percent, 2nd), rebounding margin (5.5, 3rd), FTAs per game (21.5, 3rd) FTMs per game (14.0, 4th), scoring offense (71.5, 4th) steals per game (11.0, 4th), 3-point field goals per game (8.5, 4th), field goal percentage (41.2 percent, 4th) and assist to turnover ratio (1.08, 5th).
 
Individually, junior guard Olivia Wikstrom leads the MW with a 100 percent mark from the free throw line and is 11th in the MW with 2.0 steals per game. Graduate guard Maria Carvalho ranks seventh in the league at 16.5 points per game, fourth in rebounds per game (8.5), fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.0), sixth in assists per game (4.0) and third in minutes per game (36.5). Graduate guard Mayson Kimball ranks sixth in the MW with 17.0 points per game and ranks second in the league with a 60.0 percent mark from 3-point territory. Sophomore guard Cristina Oliva ranks fourth in the conference, shooting 54.5 percent from 3-point range. Junior guard Tamiah Robinson ranks fourth in the conference at 4.5 assists per game.
 
THREE'S A CROWD
Utah State went 8-16 on 3-point attempts versus Southeastern Louisiana, the first time the team has shot 50 percent or better from behind the arc since shooting 13-24 (54.2 percent) in a 76-66 win versus Wyoming on January 22, 2022.
 
FULL-TIME WORKER
Graduate guard Maria Carvalho played all 40 minutes in Utah State's last game versus Southeastern Louisiana, the first Aggie to not leave the floor in a game this season. Last year, USU had five instances where a player played all 40 minutes of a game.
 
WELL TRAVELED
Utah State has players from nine different states on its roster, plus one international player in graduate senior Maria Carvalho. Additionally, the Aggies have no more than two players from any given state with Utah State possessing two players each from Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington.
 
WHAT'S RETURNING?
USU returns two letterwinners from last year's squad in juniors Kinley Falslev-Wickizer and Olivia Wikstrom. Falslev-Wickizer returns after averaging 1.8 points per game and shooting 14-43 (.326) on 3-pointers last season. Wikstrom averaged 4.5 points per game in addition to 2.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.9 steals per game.
 
TRANSFER-MATION COMPLETE
The Aggies welcome nine transfers in advance of the 2022-23 season. Utah State brings in four graduate transfers in Prima Chellis (SIU Edwardsville), Maria Carvalho (Utah Valley), Mayson Kimball (Merrimack College) and Abby Wahl (Eastern Illinois). A further two seniors join USU this season in Olivia Mason (Niagara) and Ashya Klopfenstein (Robert Morris). Tamiah Robinson (Labette Community College), Cristina Oliva (Sierra College) and Lillian Harris (CCBC Essex) also join Utah State after beginning their collegiate careers elsewhere.
 
USU also has three freshmen joining the roster for 2022-23 in Isabella Tañedo (Laurel, Maryland), Tiairra Hill-Brown (Las Vegas,Nevada) and Natalie Fraley (Kelso, Washington).
 
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