Bounce back time for USU
Coming off two consecutive road losses to WAC opponents, the men’s basketball team will look to get back on track with a four-game homestand.
In the last match against Fresno State, the Aggies trailed the Bulldogs the majority of the game. Despite a series of high-scoring runs by USU, it was not enough to snag a win as the Bulldogs went on to a 79-70 victory.
This is the first time the Aggies have lost back-to-back games since the 2004-2005 season, and just the ninth time in the past eight years.
Commenting on the disappointing start in conference play, Head Coach Stew Morrill said in a recent teleconference, “We’re not anywhere near what we were a year ago. It wasn’t totally surprising, but disappointing. We dug ourselves a hole in both games and tried to work our way out. That’s the wrong way to come out of a hole against those two teams.”
The Aggies have struggled on the road this season, winning only half of their 10 matches. On the other hand, the Aggies are perfect in the Spectrum on the season and will look to add four more wins to their record.
Taking a quick detour from WAC play, USU will tangle with Utah Valley State College on Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 7:05 p.m. This will mark the second meeting between the two teams.
In the last meeting, the Aggies were hard pressed to pull off a win as the Wolverines kept the score close the entire game. An 8-0 run near the end of the game, powered by senior forward Durrall Peterson, sealed the deal for the Aggies as they went on to win 69-65.
The Wolverines are 10-5 on the season and come off four straight wins with a hot hand. UVSC has won five of its last six games since losing to USU in early December. Like the Aggies though, the Wolverines have struggled on the road with a 4-4 record. Playing at the Spectrum for the first time won’t make pulling out of that slump any easier either.
USU has won 43 consecutive regular season home games against non-conference opponents, which is the second-longest home-winning streak in the nation. The only other program with more home wins is Duke’s powerhouse basketball program, which has won 50 games.
The Aggies will enjoy a definite advantage being at home, but home court advantage is no guarantee of a win, Morrill said.
“People have asked me through the years why we’ve been so good at the Spectrum,” Morrill said. “No question we have a really good home court advantage, but we’ve also had really good teams, and it kind of takes both to win a lot of games at home. We’ve got to play good basketball to win. We’re not just going to automatically come out and win just because we’re at home.”
The Wolverines will look to sophomore guard Ryan Toolson, who scores an average of 13.7 points per game. Senior forward David Heck adds an additional threat to the Wolverine team as he averages 13.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Hot shooting is one aspect of the Wolverine game the Aggies will have to watch for, as the team averages 45.9 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from beyond the arc. Add to this the depth of four returning starters, and the Wolverines pose the same threat to USU as any other team.
“This is probably Dick [Hunsaker’s] best team he’s had at Utah Valley since it went Division I,” Morrill said. “They’ll come up here with this being a big game since they’re not in conference. It will show what we’re made of, whether we can bounce back and compete in this game.”
The Aggies will look to junior guard Jaycee Carroll to keep the points coming. Carroll averages 20.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He averages 40.8 percent from beyond the arc and 92.0 percent from the charity stripe. However, Carroll has struggled on the road to consistently nail the three-point shot, one of his key skills.
Carroll is joined in scoring by junior forward Stephen DuCharme, who averages 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and senior forward Chaz Spicer who averages 9.3 points per game.
If the Aggies are going to make this stretch successful, they will have to improve on consistent scoring from all players and find a steady rhythm to control the pace of the game. Another factor the Aggies will have to watch is turnovers, an element that has been costly in the road losses.
“We’ve got to get to where we’re defending better and taking care of the ball better and executing a little better offensively,” Morrill said. “Those things all go into winning games. It’s not just where you play the game.”