Dec. 21, 2015
San Jose State Game Notes
San Jose, Calif. - The San José State women's basketball team, having snapped an eight-game slide with its win over UC Irvine on Sunday, wraps up non-conference play with an old foe, the Rainbow Wahine of the University of Hawai'i. The teams will meet on Walt McPherson Court where they Spartans have swept the last four meetings between the two programs.
Game # 11
San José State Spartans (2-8)
vs.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (5-5)
Tuesday, December 22, 3:00 p.m.
The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
Streaming video, live stats and Internet radio available at www.sjsuspartans.com
LIVE STATS
Fans can view live stats of all San José State women's basketball games, home and away, by accessing the Gametracker feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the women's basketball schedule page to follow the action.
VIDEO STREAMING
Spartan Digital is your all-access passport to Spartan Athletics. For live and recorded video/audio of San José State women's basketball home and the majority of Mountain West road contests, Spartan Digital is your home. Go to Spartan Digital at top of the Spartans Athletics home page or go to www.sjsuspartans.com/video.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with Spartans women's basketball on all our social media platforms. The team's Twitter handle is @sjswbb, Facebook page is /SanJoseStateWBB, Instagram is sjsu_wbb.
RADIO COVERAGE
Fans across the nation and internationally can listen to every Spartans' women's home game and select road games via Stretch Internet Radio. Jess Knaster and Ta'Rea Cunnigan, the leading scorer in San José State basketball history, bring you all the action. You can access the broadcast through the women's basketball schedule page at www.sjsuspartans.com.
DOUBLE DIPPIN
Jasmine Smith (Jr., F, Burbank, Calif.) has three double doubles this season, which leads the team, and her most recent came in the team's last road game, 10 points and 12 rebounds at UOP (12/12). For her career she has 12 double doubles with is the most by any active player in the Mountain West.
TOUGH PRESEASON SLATE
The old adage goes that a tough preseason schedule gets you ready for the conference slate. If that is true then San José State will be prepared when Mountain West action starts. Of the Spartans 11 non-conference opponents, nine participated in the postseason in 2014-15.
One was in the NCAA Tournament (New Mexico State), seven played in the WNIT (Saint Mary's, CSU Bakersfield, Washington State, San Francisco, South Dakota, Pacific, and Hawai'i) and Southern Oregon competed in the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
THIS IS ONE STRONG AND TOUGH SCHEDULE
In the latest Strength of Schedule report from the NCAA (12/13), the Spartans are playing one of the toughest slate of games in the country. Ranked 38th in the nation, SJSU easily has the toughest schedule in the Mountain West as well. The top-three teams in the MW, Colorado State, UNLV and New Mexico have the 226th, 161st and 130th ranked schedules, respectively.
RAMOS NAMED PRESEASON MOUNTAIN WEST NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Dezz Ramos (Jr., PG, West Valley, Utah), who averaged 10.4 points, 3.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals in two seasons at Weber State and sat out 2014-15 due to NCAA transfer rules, earned MW Preseason Newcomer of the Year honors, by a vote of the conference coaches and media representatives last month. Ramos is the first Spartan to earn the honor.
LADD HAS CAREER NIGHT VS. NEW MEXICO STATE
MyMy Ladd (So., G, Seattle, Wash.) took the floor as a starter for the first time this year and responded with the best offensive performance of her career. She scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, all career highs. In addition, her four assists were a season-high and tied for the best assist night of her career.
IT'S A UC IRVINE THING
Emily Vann (Sr., F, Martinez, Calif.) has reached double figures twice in her career and both times were against UC Irvine. She set her career-high, 11 points, at UC Irvine last season (11/14/14). On Sunday, she equaled the 11 points to tie her career-high...against UC Irvine.
RAMOS THE TIP OF THE SPEAR
Dezz Ramos (Jr., PG, West Valley, Utah) is showing why the voters for MW Newcomer of the Year got their selection correct. She leads the team in scoring at 19.4 point per game and ranks second in the Mountain West. Versus South Dakota (12/8) she erupted for 31 points. It was her Spartan high and the second best single-game scoring effort in her collegiate career.
MORE ON RAMOS
In addition to her scoring prowess, Dezz Ramos (Jr., PG, West Valley, Utah) is lighting up the Mountain West in several other categories. Entering this week's play she leads the conference in three-point field goals (3.2/g) is second in three-point percentage (.483), fourth in free throw percentage (.842), fourth in sixth (3.7/g) and 14th in assist/turnover ratio (1.1:1).
FROM BEYOND THE ARC...THERE ARE NO RED LIGHTS
In 2014-15, the Spartans led the Mountain West in three-point attempts (872) and makes (271). That's an average of 27.3 attempts and 8.5 makes per game and 2015-16 looks to be even higher. In 10 games the team had hoisted 286 threes (28.6/g) and has drained 91 (9.1/g). Both numbers lead the conference and the 9.1 makes per game is 11th best in the nation. SJSU is also ranked 18th in three-point attempts and 26th in total three pointers made.
HARRIS...SENIOR LEADING
Nyre Harris (Sr., G, Stockton, Calif.) is a team captain and is leading by example. Harris tops the team with 2.8 steals per game and 40 defensive rebounds. In addition, she second in minutes (27.5/g), total rebounds (5.8/g), assists (26), and third in offensive rebounds (18). Harris has started every game and ranks fourth on the team at 9.3 point per game. In the opener, against Southern Oregon (11/13), Harris picked up the first double double of her college career scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. At Pacific (12/12) she got her second with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Harris, a 5-8 shooting guard, is tied for the conference lead in steals, is 12th in defensive rebounds and the 15th leading rebounder in the Mountain West.
BYRD WATCHING
Riana Byrd (Sr., C, Richmond, Calif.) is a good season away from becoming just the second player in San José State women's basketball history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in a career. Averaging both 9.0 points and rebounds per game over her three years at SJSU, Byrd currently has with 886 points and 866 rebounds. At her current pace she could reach both milestones and join the 1,000/1,000 club later this season.
TURN'EM OVER AND STEAL'EM
San José State's pressure defense can produce a lot of turnovers and a lot of steals, 645 and 347, respectively last season, for an average of 20.2 forced turnovers and 10.8 steals per game.
In 18 games, in 2014-15, the Spartans forced at least 20 turnovers and posted a 14-4 record. They forced 33 turnovers against Southern Oregon and won 92-78.
In games in which the team had at least 11 steals, the Spartans were 10-5. They picked the pocket of Southern Oregon players 20 times in the season opening win.
So far in 2015-16, the Spartans have forced 194 turnovers (19.4/g) and have gotten 99 steals (9.9/g). SJSU's 9.9 steals a game ranks 36th in the nation and its turnovers forced is the 32nd best in the NCAA.
MS. SMITH GOES TO THE HOOP AND BOARDS
Jasmine Smith (Jr., F, Burbank, Calif.) is averaging 11.5 points and 6.7 rebounds this year, which is second and first on the team, respectively. She is shooting a team-best .531, which ranks 75th in the nation and seventh the Mountain West.
Her scoring average is the 16th best in the MW and she is the eighth rebounds and is fifth in offensive boards (3.3/g).
SCOUTING HAWAI'I
The Rainbow Wahine come into the game with a 5-5 record. They are the ninth of 11 teams in the preseason that qualified for the postseason last year. In games away from their island home, the team is 3-2, having defeated Sacramento State 74-72 two nights ago. They average 59.7 points a game and have been outscored by opponents by an average of 3.2 points per game.
Destiny King leads the Hawai'i offense with a 10.0 ppg average. She is the only player averaging double figure scoring this year. Megan Huff is scoring 8.8 points per game and leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per outing. Ashleigh Karaitiana tops the team with 27 assists and ranks third on the team at 8.2 points per game.
Laura Beeman is in her fourth season leading the Rainbow Wahine program. She brought a 50-37 record at Hawai'i into the season.
THE SERIES WITH HAWAI'I
This will be the 58th meeting between the Spartans and Rainbow Wahine. San José State trails in the all-time series 41-16. In games contested on the Spartans home floor, Hawai'i holds an 18-12 advantage. However, in the last 10 meeting in San Jose, SJSU is 8-2 including sweeping the last four.