San José, Calif. - Coming off the program's most successful season in 40 years, the San José State women's basketball team returns to action when it travels to Berkeley to face California on Wednesday afternoon.
The Spartans enter the 2020-21 campaign with six seniors on their roster. Bolstered by the nation's largest single-season win turnaround a year ago, the team finished in a tie for third in the Mountain West standings and had a pair of student-athletes (Ayzhiana Basallo and Tyra Whitehead) named to the Mid-Major Player of the Year watch list earlier this month.
Awaiting SJSU in the season-opener are the Golden Bears out of the Pac-12. Sophomore Jazlen Green (8.8 points per game) represents the team's top returning scorer while another sophomore - Evelien Lutje Schipholt - tops California's returners on the boards (5.9 rebounds per game). Green led the Golden Bears in scoring in four different games as a freshman and received Preseason All-Pac-12 honors last week.
Spartan fans can follow San José State on social media all season long by following @SanJoseStateWBB on Twitter or @sjswbb on Instagram.
STORYLINES
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
Wednesday's meeting will also serve as the first game of the season for California. The team is coming off a 12-19 record a year ago but did notch victories over No. 13 Arizona and No. 22 Arizona State for its final two wins of the season. The Golden Bears opened the 2019-20 campaign with seven victories in their first nine games, a stretch that included another ranked win (No. 20 Arkansas).
Sophomore Jazlen Green (8.8 points per game) is California's top returning scorer from that campaign. It's sophomore Evelien Lutje Schipholt who tops the team's returners on the boards, pulling down an average of 5.9 rebounds per game a year ago.
Head coach Charmin Smith guided her program to a 7-10 mark at home last season. Its last win at Haas Pavilion came back on Dec. 29, a 72-53 victory over visiting Grand Canyon.
AN SJSU WIN WOULD
> Give SJSU its first win over California since 2009
> Mark the program's first win in a season-opener since the 2015-16 campaign
> Be better than a loss
SJSU VS. THE PAC-12
Overall, San José State is 37-91 against the current make up of schools in the Pac-12. The Spartans last victory over a Pac-12 member came on Dec. 9, 2009 at No. 22 California.
Chasity Shavers led her team in the 68-66 victory in Berkeley, tallying 32 points while pulling down eight rebounds. This will mark SJSU's only game against a Pac-12 opponent in the 2020-21 regular season.
PRESEASON POLL
The Spartans were picked second in the Mountain West preseason poll, marking the highest preseason selection in program history (SJSU was No. 3 in the 2005-06 WAC preseason poll). San José State received first-place votes on two of the 26 ballots that were submitted.
WHITEHEAD, BASALLO NAMED TO MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Point guard Ayzhiana Basallo and forward Tyra Whitehead have been named to the Her Hoop Stats Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year preseason watch list. In addition to leading the Mountain West in honorees, SJSU was one of just two teams nationally to place multiple players on the list.
BASALLO NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST
Ayzhiana Basallo became just the fourth Spartan in school history to be named to a preseason all-conference team this month when she was voted Preseason All-Mountain West for the 2020-21 season. The preseason nod is the program's first since Dezz Ramos was honored in 2017.
A junior out of San Francisco, Basallo is the reigning Mountain West Newcomer of the Year. She has earned two conference superlative awards in two seasons of collegiate basketball, the first coming in 2018 as the Big West Sixth Player of the Year.
SPANNING THE GLOBE
The 2020-21 Spartans will have supporters in plenty of different time zones this season. This year's roster features student-athletes from nine different states (Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Virginia) and two countries (Nigeria, United States).
YOUTH MOVEMENT
San José State's turnaround has been a few years in the making as the program had the youngest roster in the country for the 2017-18 season, a group that included eight freshmen. Four of the players on that team are now seniors at SJSU.
PAC-12 OPENERS
This will be San José State's ninth season-opener against a Pac-12 opponent in program history. Its last three such contests came in 2017 (at No. 7 UCLA), 2014 (overtime loss at Utah) and 2008 (one-point loss against Oregon). The Spartans haven't opened a season in Berkeley against California since 1987.
TURNAROUND
No team in the nation had a larger single-season win turnaround than San José State last year. The Spartans went from six victories in the 2018-19 season to 19 wins on the 2019-20 campaign.
A HISTORIC CAMPAIGN
Last year's Spartan team finished the season with the third-most wins in program history and the best win total in 40 years:
Season Record
1978-79 24-4
1979-80 22-9
2019-20 19-12
2004-05 18-12
1982-83 17-9
1977-78 17-10
2001-02 17-11
BASALLO BREAKDOWN
Ayzhiana Basallo was one of the top guards in the country last season, ranking 40th nationally in points per game (18.5) and No. 2 in free throw percentage (92.5%). She was also one of the conference's top distributors, ranking No. 3 in the Mountain West (and 65th in all of Division I) with 4.6 assists per game. Only four players in the country finished the year finished the season averaging 18.5+ points and 4.5+ assists per game.
Basallo scored in double figures in 26 of her 28 games against Division I opponents and reached the 20-point plateau in 13 of those. She was also the league's top player in the clutch, leading the Mountain West in total points scored (182, next closest performer had 136) in the final five minutes of each half and points in the final two minutes of close games (85 - No. 4 nationally).
WHITE(HEAD) NOISE
Forward Tyra Whitehead had a breakout season in 2019-20, her first at SJSU. Whitehead finished the season ranked No. 23 nationally with 314 rebounds, a figure that slotted her second in the country among Division I transfers. She also tallied 13 double-doubles on the season, ranking 34th in the country in that category while becoming just the fifth Spartan in program history to average a season double-double (13.9 points, 10.1 rebounds per game).
Whitehead started all of San José State's 31 games and reached double figures in scoring in 24 of those. She also scored her team's first points of the game in 13 different contests.
CELEBRATING DIVERSITY
Just as San José State University is one of the most diverse campuses in the country, the Spartan women's basketball team is no different.
One of the most inclusive teams in both the Mountain West and all of Division I, SJSU is proud to have the league's only Filipina (Ayzhiana Basallo), Nigerian (Irene Chukwudi) and Navajo Nation (Analyss Benally) student-athletes on its roster.
HAFOKA BACK
Fieme'a Hafoka was named as the program's student assistant coach back in September. Hafoka recently wrapped up her senior season and is now a graduate student at SJSU after receiving her bachelor's degree in child and adolescent development in May. She spent three seasons as a team captain for the Spartans and appeared in 121 games, just one contest short of the school record.
D AND DISH
The Spartans got the job done on both ends of the floor last season, becoming one of just three teams nationally (DePaul, Maryland) to finish in the top-15 in both steals and assists per game. SJSU finished the 2019-20 campaign with 10.5 steals and 17.0 assists per game.
KEEPING GOOD COMPANY
San José State ranked No. 7 in the country (tied with UConn) for points per possession in catch and shoot situations last season. SJSU's mark of 1.119 was just behind national leader Portland State (1.162).
SPEED CITY
SJSU finished the 2019-20 season ranked No. 3 in the Mountain West in points per half court possessions (0.835). That mark was just .017 points off league-leader Boise State.
KEEP CLIMBING
San José State advanced to the semifinals of a conference tournament for just the third time in program history last season. The Spartans entered the Mountain West Tournament as the No. 4 seed, matching the school's best-ever seed for a conference tournament.
SPARTANS IN THE NEWS
Be sure to bookmark our clips and links page for all of the latest San José State women's basketball coverage.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEDIA INFORMATION
For any information concerning Mountain West basketball, contact Theresa Kurtz, Associate Director of Strategic Communications. Mountain West information is also available online at www.themw.com.
SPARTAN ATHLETICS FUND FAN CUTOUTS
Spartan Nation, don't miss your chance to be represented in the stands at the Provident Credit Union Event Center this season by grabbing your Cardboard Cutout today. If interested, follow this link to register!