Aggies look to continue win streak in Idaho
Coming off a big win over New Mexico State, the men’s basketball team will try to stop a two-game road skid this Saturday in Moscow Idaho.
Last year the Aggies went on a record-breaking 37-0 run in Moscow in route to a dominating victory over the Idaho Vandals. Head Coach Stew Morrill said he knows his team will probably not have another game like that.
“Having been to Moscow enough times, I know what we are in for,” Morrill said. “I’m just not sure if all our guys know what we’re in for. We have a lot of guys who haven’t experienced it up there like it really is. We had a little false sense of Moscow, Idaho, last year. Normally if we’ve won there, it’s been just a scratch and claw, and barely get out of there alive with a win. I’ve also lost there enough times to know what that’s all about.”
The Aggies will have a rare five-day rest between games after playing San Jose State and New Mexico State two days apart, a normal routine this year in the Western Athletic Conference.
“It’s nice to have a few days between games. We’ve had quite a stretch,” Morrill said. “What’s weird to me is how you’re supposed to, in college, travel one week and be home the next week, in theory. That’s the way it always used to be. We’re pretty much traveling every week.”
After scoring a Spectrum-high 44 points, junior guard Jaycee Carroll will look to help lift the Aggies to victory with his WAC-high 20.1 points-per-game average. One of the big reasons he was so successful was the help he got from his teammates, Morrill said.
“It was interesting how many screens his teammates set for him and how little room he needed to get it off,” Morrill said. “He just scored in some many different ways. It was an amazing performance, and thank goodness it came in a victory.”
As the Aggies head toward their possible 20th win, they are faced with tough opponents on the road and at home. The game at Idaho will be a big win to help the Aggies keep sole possession of third place in the conference and allow them a good seed heading into the conference tournament in March.
After playing in Moscow, the Aggies will head back home for a game against Hawaii on Valentine’s Day. After that, they will participate in ESPN’s Bracketbuster, where they will face a tough Oral Roberts team.
Coach Morrill said he feels his team has progressed and improved this year to be in the position they are in.
“This team is getting better,” he said.
-wwm@cc.usu.edu