Unique 3-on-3 international experience helps Marquette's Skylar Forbes to keep improving
The email popped into Skylar Forbes' inbox in early May, and the Marquette women's basketball player was intrigued.
The 6-foot-3 forward was just a few months removed from a breakout sophomore season, but she still had a list of things she wanted to improve on over the summer.
So a chance to represent Team Canada in a FIBA 3x3 Women's Series tournament in Vienna, Austria, in early June sounded like a great way to combine adventure and development.
“I think it’s always important to represent with your country across your chest,” said Forbes, a native of Markham, Ontario. “I think it’s a great opportunity, kind of set a standard for myself.
“And being able to say, ‘This is where I’m from and I’m proud to be here.’ And kind of show other people that if I can do it, you can do it, too. Every dream is never too small.”
MU coach Cara Consuegra sees more potential in Skylar Forbes
Forbes averaged 15.8 points and 5.9 rebounds last season, earning all-Big East first team honors.
During their chats after the season, MU head coach Cara Consuegra pushed Forbes to focus on several areas before her junior year.
“One of the biggest things with her is her footwork and getting her to slow down,” Consuegra said. “If you look at last year, she was one of our leaders in turnovers.
“For us, you don’t want one of your best offensive players to also lead your team in turnovers. That’s been a big process for her – and she told me this, I didn’t realize this – the way she played in Canada, they never called these walks on her. They allow you these extra shuffle step.”
Consuegra also wanted Forbes to get stronger.
“We found toward the end of year, the game plan was to try to beat her up,” the MU coach said. “So just try to continue to get stronger and play a little lower so that when people do try to do that with her, she can score it anyway.”
The international competition provided a different environment for Forbes, getting her out of the comfort zone of the Al McGuire Center.
“You're going against better players, top to bottom,” Consuegra said. “Older players, the tour she’s been on has a lot of professional players. So she’s getting an opportunity to go against pros.
“I think the game the way 3x3 is played, it’s very physical. So the things we’ve been working on with her, she better do against them because they don’t call the same number of fouls.”
Consuegra also pointed out that, during FIBA’s 3-on-3 competition, players can’t communicate with their coach so players have to figure things out on their own and be able to get themselves on the same page.
Skylar Forbes enjoys her FIBA experience with Team Canada
Forbes had represented Team Canada before at the 2022 U18 Women's Americas Championship, so she was in a player pool for competitions like 3-on-3.
This time, she had only a short time to build rapport with teammates Achol Akot, Jade Belmore and Julia Chadwick.
“We were kind of just thrown together,” Forbes said. “One of them, Achol Akot, we played against earlier this season at UCF.
“But I played against her in high school as well, which is pretty cool. The other two I had never met before, but we were able to mesh well together.”
There was also the differences in 3-on-3 competition.
“I would say it’s a lot quicker,” Forbes said. “Obviously it’s half court. Being versatile is something that is important in this game.
“I think if you’re good at one position and sticking to that, it’s a little bit hard to move around. Because the game of 3-on-3 you’re constantly moving. With the ability to play inside and play out, I think it’s really beneficial.”
Playing that way also only helps Forbes’ development.
“That’s an area of growth for her is to make those decisions from the perimeter,” Consuegra said. “When you’re going 5-on-5 that help is coming early and often, it’s hard.
“When you’re going 3-on-3, the spacing is different. It’s going to give her more opportunity to operate in better space. Which we hope will help her confidence when she comes back to 5-on-5.”
Forbes was in Vienna for almost a week, but Team Canada played only two games, going 1-1 and not advancing out of the qualifying stage.
“It was a good opportunity,” Forbes said. “We practiced maybe about three hours total across the week.
“So all of us went in with little-to-no experience in 3-on-3. So it was a good experience, it was pretty cool to learn as the games went along.”
Marquette women’s basketball did not have any players transfer
The Golden Eagles surprised many observers in Consuegra’s first season at the school, reaching the WBIT second round.
Perhaps most important to building her foundation, no players transferred out of the program.
“It’s been incredible,” Consuegra said, “To have so many players be bought in and want to be here and believe in what we’re doing.
“That really is what it should all be about. So I think we’ve been really excited about that. It’s been really refreshing to have returners to coach versus everything last year was brand new. You can just do things quicker. Our returners can help our newcomers. You’re just creating culture now because everyone has been through it for a year.”
With Forbes’ sky-rocketing improvement, she probably could have started a bidding war for her services in the transfer portal. But she is all-in with the Golden Eagles.
“I think it speaks volumes about what Coach has built here, that nobody wanted to leave,” Forbes said. “And I’m excited about the new girls coming in with Jordan (Meulemans), Kam (Herring) and J.J. (Barnes.)
“I think it’s going to be incredibly exciting to see what they can do for us and how they are going to be able to incorporate themselves and find their roles on this team.
“But building off last year, everyone has gotten so much better within the short period of time we’ve been working out. I’m excited.”