Since the inception of Her Hoop Stats’ Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award in 2020, UC Riverside has never had a player in contention for the honors. That changed this year as Hannah Wickstrom was recently named as one of the ten finalists.
The sophomore guard is enjoying a career season, leading the Big West Conference in scoring with 23.6 points per game. She is the only player in the conference who is averaging at least 20 points.
Wickstrom is part of the foundation that UC Riverside head coach Brad Langston is trying to build with the Highlanders. In his eyes, having a player as good as Wickstrom makes the program stand out to potential recruits. Similar players will see the success she’s had and know UC Riverside is a place they can thrive.
”Somebody of her caliber is huge. It attracts other great players that want to play with her. The core group that we have as sophomores is huge for us,” Langston told The IX Basketball. “The next evolution of that is what does that look like as we continue to move forward. … Other good players that want to come in and compete on both sides of the floor, you can have individual success, guaranteed success.”
But before Wickstrom could find success, the Melbourne, Australia native had to learn to adjust to the NCAA style of play.
First, she had to hit the weight room. When Wickstrom initially came to UC Riverside, one of the first things she noticed was how much more physical the game was compared to back home in Australia.
She also observed that college players had more talent as well. That combination of strength and skill was the main thing she knew she had to improve in after her freshman year.
”The style of game over here is a lot more physical and very one-on-one. … I think the offense here, everyone has more bag to their game,” Wickstrom told The IX Basketball. “I’d say the game is more complex, there’s more skill over here, and obviously, the strength is very different. The girls are so much stronger over here because they’ve been weight-lifting for so long. And their athletic ability. I would say those are the main differences.”
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This offseason, Wickstrom attacked the weight room. And aside from the usual on-court work, Wickstrom’s training regimen consisted of plenty of conditioning. That was the number one thing that stood out to Langston as Wickstrom prepared for her second season with the Highlanders.
”Her dedication to skill development, on top of taking the weight room to the next level, I think it really shows,” Langston said. “Her growth was able to be expedited because of the development, conditioning, strength training, all to continue to put her in positions to be able to find success.”
Few players in the Big West have taken the leap between seasons that Wickstrom has. She went from averaging 7.7 points and coming off the bench as a freshman, per Sports Reference, to starting every game this season and ranking fifth in the nation in scoring.
She’s more than doubled her shot attempts from 6.6 to 17.2. And that’s come at an increased efficiency as well, going from 40.9% shooting to 49.9%. She’s seen a slight drop in her 3-point efficiency, going from 37.2% to 35%, but that’s still a respectable number.
Now that she’s adjusted to the overall physicality and skill level of stateside players, the next part is dealing with the added defensive pressure. Wickstrom is now No. 1 on opposing teams’ scouting reports.
“I have to make an adjustment every game because every team guards me a little different. Girls who are taller with length, and then I’ll face shorter girls who are quicker and faster. And it really is each game I have to figure out how to beat my defender,” Wickstrom said. “But my coaches are really good at helping me with that and what I can use to get open, or how I need to play, whether that’s using jump fakes and shot fakes and back cutting a lot too. It’s not just me, it’s also my coaches. They really do help me.”
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But it’s not just the offensive end where Wickstrom has made a difference this season. Defensively, she’s been just as good. She’s leading the team in defensive rating this season at 85.8, per Fox Sports.
Her steals per game have more than doubled, going from 1.0 per game a year ago to 2.6 this year. She’s reached seven steals twice this season and has also had games with six and five steals.
Wickstrom made a point to improve defensively, knowing that she was going to have to make an impact on the defensive end as well in order for UC Riverside to have success.
“I’ve improved the most in being able to take feedback from my coaches, and I would also say that I think my defense has gotten a lot better,” Wickstrom said. “I didn’t do too much on the defensive end before I came here. My coaches have really helped, like being in the right spots and making the right rotations. I’ve really grown in that from last year. Coming in and having to understand all that was quite hard.”
In the final days of the regular season, UC Riverside had already clinched a spot in the Big West Tournament. Following their 70-61 win against Cal State Northridge on Saturday, they will be no worse than the seventh seed in the conference tournament.
A solid run in the Big West Tournament would be ideal, but for Wickstrom, the main thing that determines a successful season for the Highlanders is the amount of growth they’ve shown throughout the year.
”I think a successful season looks like showing growth from where you start to the end of the season. That’s just growing each game, learning new things, showing up and competing,” Wickstrom said. “You want to be playing your best basketball around this part of the year and leading into the tournament. That’s when we can create more success in the tournament. We can go on runs and show everyone, show the Big West the growth we made over the year.”
