Aggies hit the road, set for Pacific
So far this week, Utah State head coach Stew Morrill has seen a spark in his team during practice.
And the Aggies, who have struggled on the road this season, will need a spark when they travel to last season’s conference champion Pacific Thursday.
“They know who they’re playing,” Morrill said of his players.
Even after suffering road defeats to Idaho and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Morrill said he still believes the team can win away from the Spectrum.
“We’re hoping we can have a really good road year,” he said. “[In the past] when we’ve won on the road it was tight, most of the time very tight.”
Morrill said the difference between winning and losing on the road is sometimes very small – and almost always comes down to rebounding.
Against Pacific, a team Morrill said has the best core of post-players the Aggies have yet to face this year, rebounding and inside play will be a concern for USU.
“When you talk about a group of three or four guys, we haven’t played against anybody with this kind of size and depth,” he said.
Senior Spencer Nelson and junior Nate Harris will be saddled with the task of limiting Pacific’s Christian Maraker and Guillaume Yango, but Aggie big men Ian McVey and Cass Matheus will need to play big also against the Tigers.
Coming off the bench Saturday, Matheus threw down 14 points to help the Ags to a 76-65 win over Cal Poly and Morrill said he expects the 6-foot-10-inch Brazilian to keep improving.
“He’s really practiced hard,” head coach Stew Morrill said. “I told our team Cass is a great lesson for everyone.”
Saturday, the Ags won’t have it any easier, going head-to-head with Cal State Northridge, a team that ousted USU from the conference tournament last March.
“You’ve got to play well,” Morrill said. “If you play mediocre at Pacific, you have no chance. And if you play mediocre you really have no chance at Northridge. You have to play well.”
-acf@cc.usu.edu