ASU sophomore forward Kelsey Moos looks for a shot as Stanford freshman forward Kaylee Johnson closes during
the ASU vs. Stanford women’s basketball game on Feb. 6,
2015, at the Wells Fargo Arena. (Daniel Kwon/The State
Press)
It started with a simple question.
“What do you think is the biggest thing you bring to the team?”
“Um…”
Sophomore forward Kelsey Moos paused for four seconds before realizing she hadn’t spoken in what probably felt like an eternity. It’s hard, thinking of your own skills, particularly when they don’t fill up the stat sheet.
“I don’t know. Probably just, um…” She paused for three more seconds before remembering some generic aspects of her game that stand out. “Probably just like toughness and rebounding.”
That’s the thing. Moos is the forgotten fifth starter of ASU women’s basketball.
No. 24 is the one player who isn’t instantly recognizable on the court. That’s not a bad thing. She just doesn’t have an easily distinguishable identity.
Junior guard Elisha Davis is the playmaker, the ball handler, the offensive instigator. Redshirt junior guard Katie Hempen is the sharpshooter who drills daggers into the net and daggers into the hearts of opponents. Senior guard Promise Amukamara is the leader of the squad and the perimeter defender that holds ASU’s game together. Sophomore forward Sophie Brunner is the emerging big who can defend a 6-foot-6 center as well as she can a 5-foot-11 forward.
Moos is the fifth player. The one who’s diving on the ground for a loose ball, or who just happens to be in position for the offensive rebound. She’s the one that doesn’t shoot much, but when she does, it falls more often than not (she has the second-highest field goal percentage on the team).
Moos is the hustle player that every good team needs.
“Kelsey only knows how to go all out every possession,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said.
How do the intangibles come to her? How is Moos able to learn those unlearnable skills?
“It’s just a mentality, that’s really all it is,” Moos said. “It’s not about how fast you are, how athletic you are, it’s just a mindset.”
It’s been apparent that ASU is missing something over the past two weeks. Moos got injured late in the game against Cal on Feb. 8 and ASU hasn’t quite been the same without her. The bigs off the bench have stepped up in her four-game absence, but they don’t do the things Moos can.
Against Cal, ASU took a lead with about 16 seconds seconds remaining. Cal made a layup at the buzzer. 50-49, ASU lost.
How did Cal get such good position at the hoop? An offensive rebound. Moos was on the floor with a torn ligament in her elbow and the team was unable to box out Cal’s freshman forward Penina Davidson.
Moos’ first missed game was against Oregon State. ASU got just nine offensive rebounds. Backups freshman center Ayanna Edwards and redshirt junior Eliza Normen struggled, combining for two points and three rebounds.
The two have picked it up since, but that was a worrisome sign of things to come against the best team in the Pac-12.
It’s not fair to say that ASU struggles to get offensive boards without her. Brunner actually has more than Moos, and sophomore center Quinn Dornstauder’s 6-foot-4 frame and long arms allows her to pull down a bundle.
Moos just happens to be in the right place when ASU needs it.
“She is programmed to rebound every shot,” Turner Thorne said. “When the shot goes up, she only knows how to give an all-out effort to go get it.”
Each player on the team has some identity on offense. Brunner posts up. Hempen patrols the 3-point line. Amukamara penetrates and makes lefty layups. Davis facilitates and shoots when she deems necessary.
What does Moos do?
“Um…”
The forward took a three-second pause before continuing, “I mean I try to just—” She paused for another four seconds. “—hit my shots, set good screens and everything. …Whatever the team needs that game.”
She said that sometimes the team needs to crash the boards harder or help the guards get open.
Often, the team simply needs more efficient offense.
Moos is the player who’s comfortable in the mid-range. Brunner doesn’t trust her own shot yet and the three starting guards have other red zones on the court. While Moos is not a prototypical stretch-four, she stretches the floor and allows the inconsistent ASU offense to get going.
Davis called Moos a relentless player, one who forces defenders to guard her.
“She’s a threat; that makes people play her,” Davis said. “She’s good at being able to get open shots for other people.”
Her range, which has improved this year, started growing in her high school days. She played some small forward before coming to ASU and developed a decent shot. She said that before college, she played “a little bit of everything.”
This also helped her improve her footwork on defense. While Brunner is talented at working her body around the interior player or staying between her man and the ball handler, Moos is skilled at fighting out further on the court and staying in front.
She said her footwork came down to positioning. Over the offseason, she worked on that and her triangles but called it a “work in progress.”
What has allowed her to succeed this year is her hustle and intangibles. She’s not the most athletic on the team, and she’s not the biggest forward either. When it comes to finding the ball, though, she’s the quintessential player.
She laughed when asked how many times she falls to the floor going for a loose ball.
“I’m going to say a couple.”
That’s Kelsey Moos. She averages 7.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and (upward of) two dives on the floor per game.
That’s two extra possessions per game. That could be an eight-point swing. That’s a game changer. That’s a stat that doesn’t show up in the box score, but a stat that is as influential as any block or steal.
“She just brings amazing work ethic and toughness, first and foremost, which is a huge part of who we are as a team,” Turner Thorne said.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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