Utah State set to start conference tournament
Having not faced his old school since he left for Utah State in 1998, Stew Morrill and the Aggies will take on Colorado State for the third time this season. Morrill coached at Colorado State for seven years before he took the job in Logan. The man who he took over for, Larry Eustachy, will be on the opposite bench, coaching the Rams.
The two teams have been linked by their coaches during Utah State’s first season in the Mountain West and will meet as the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday. The Aggies took the first two meetings by seven and nine points, respectvely.
“It’s hard to beat a team three times that is basically even with us in the standings,” Morrill said. “I’m always very aware of the job Larry Eustachy does and I like this Colorado State team. It’s kind of a testament to our league that as you get down in the standings, there are still high-caliber teams.”
Utah State final game of the regular season happened last Wednesday, so it has a week between games though Morrill does not see that as an advantage.
“This time of year, having a bye right at the end of the season is not the most favorable,” Morrill said. “You’d rather keep playing. You’re kind of in a day or two of practice then play mode. Obviously we’ve had a chance to get some rest; that’s the one positive thing about it. But it is a little bit odd to have four practices and a couple days off between games at this point in the season.”
Colorado State stumbles into the tournament having lost five of their last seven. They will also be without 6-9 238 pound senior forward Gerson Santo, who started all 31 games for the Rams.
“This is just a devastating loss for our team, but more importantly for Gerson,” Eustachy said. “He played his heart out for CSU, and I hate to see something like this end his senior season so abruptly.”
Preston Medlin was the only player to score in double-digits in both games. He had 12 points in the first game in Logan and 18 in the meeting in Fort Collins.
In the two games between the Aggies and Rams this year, Daniel Bejarano and J.J. Avila combined for 76 of the teams 112 points. Avila also earned third team all-conference honors. Daniel Bejarano had less success against Utah State than those two, but earned second team all-conference honors. Bejarano was also second in the conference in points per game with 18.8.
Utah State played on this court once before this season, against UNLV on January 22 – a 20-point loss.
“We have played a game at Las Vegas, but we haven’t played in a conference tournament on UNLV’s home court, which is definitely is what this is,” Morrill said. “They can change the floor and the locker rooms, whatever they want to do, but it’s still UNLV’s home court. I think we’re excited.”
This will be the first Mountain West Tournament for the Aggies, who were in the Western Athletic Conference before this season. Morrill said that the Aggies won’t get lulled into a false sense of security.
“It’s a whole different game, it’s a whole different deal. It really has nothing to do with the other two games,” Morrill said. “We’re glad we won the other two games, but this game is in and of itself a whole different entity, and we have to go play.”
Twitter-@dahdahUSU