One last tune-up
You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
That is the philosophy the Utah State men’s basketball team holds and it will prove true Friday as Hawaii-Hilo comes to the Spectrum for the final exhibition game of the year.
The contest is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
Assistant coach Randy Rahe said USU decided to play the Division II team because the Vulcans financially took care of Utah State while in Hawaii for the Hilo Shootout last season. He said Hawaii-Hilo helped pay for USU’s flight and hotel stay while at the tournament.
The Aggies knocked off the Vulcans 71-60 as Mark Brown scored 11 points en route to being named the tourney MVP last year.
“We had a heck of a time trying to beat them over there,” Rahe said. “They are supposed to win their league. It’s a really good game for preparing us for what we are going to see down the road. Our guys are going to have to execute.”
UHH is the favorite to win the PacWest title as voted on by the league’s coaches, and senior guard Ryan Abrahams was selected as the conference’s top returning player. He earned all-PacWest honors as a junior averaging 16.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Last season the Vulcans went 18-10, including a 10-5 league record. They advanced to the NCAA West Regional Tournament as a No. 6 seed where they lost to Humboldt State 102-81 in the first round.
The contest in Logan will be the final tune-up before Hawaii-Hilo takes on St. Martin’s University Nov. 17 in its first regular-season game.
The Aggies begin their regular season Nov. 21 against Fort Lewis College.
Although Utah State won’t blame its 76-74 loss to Global Sports on the absence of Brown, his contributions are greatly missed.
Rahe said the senior’s hamstring has been getting better every day, though.
“We hope it doesn’t keep him out for too long,” Rahe said. “We don’t know what to expect.”
USU Head Coach Stew Morrill said, “We would like to have [Brown]. He’s a starter with one year of our system under his belt. He’s been playing real well in our scrimmages and practices.”
The Aggies will likely count on the veterans to lead the team again – seniors Mike Ahmad and Cardell Butler scored 14 and 15 points, respectively, against Global Sports – however, the team will expect some of the new players to step up.
Rahe said Morrill did a good job of spreading the time around in the last contest which hopefully helped to get rid of some of the jitters from the newer players.
“We had some of our new guys who were a little nervous,” he said. “I thought the kids played nervous the whole game. … We need some of the new guys to move along quicker, you always do with the new guys. They are picking things up, though.”
-juag@cc.usu.edu