400 and still counting, Morrill hits milestone in huge win over Hawai’i

Stew Morrill won his 400th game as a Division-I head coach when the Utah State men’s basketball team beat Hawai’i 62-52 in the Spectrum Monday night.

The game started at 10 p.m. because it aired on ESPN2, but that didn’t stop a near-sellout crowd of 9,540 Aggie fans from cheering their team to victory.

“That was a lot of fun,” Aggie Jaycee Carroll said. “I wish we could do that every Monday.”

Morrill downplayed his milestone win.

“I’ve always had good assistants and good players everywhere I’ve been,” he said. “I should try to find more significance in it. I always worry about the next one, not the last 400.”

Aggie Nate Harris said the team gave their coach the game ball for Monday’s win.

“[The 400th win] shows he’s a great coach,” he said. “He knows what he’s doing.”

Harris scored 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead USU. Carroll and Chris Huber also hit three 3-pointers each.

“Carroll hit some shots,” Morrill said. “Huber has been giving us some really solid play. He’s comfortable shooting the ball, but he doesn’t shoot too many.”

The Aggies led the game by as many as 20 points early in the second half. But the Rainbow Warriors made it interesting, going on a 15-2 to run to cut their deficit to 47-40. Carroll responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to give USU a 13-point edge with seven minutes to play. Hawai’i never got closer than 11 points down after that.

Morrill said it felt good to avenge the Aggies’ first WAC loss of the season.

“This was very good for us,” he said. “We showed stark improvement from that game. We’ve always enjoyed being on TV.”

Harris said the Warriors tried doing the same thing defensively that they did on Dec. 17 in Honolulu when Hawai’i beat USU 69-59.

“It was the same old story,” he said. “They were real physical and they were blocking shots.”

Harris said the lively fans really helped the team.

“We always feed off the crowd,” he said. “They give us a boost. We really appreciate it.”

Morrill was also pleased with the strong home-court advantage.

“I’m just tickled,” he said. “It’s nice to see we had people stay up. The student section was incredible.”

USU will now travel to Las Cruces, N. M., to face the New Mexico State Aggies for the first time this season. After that, it will go to Ruston, La., for a rematch with first-place Louisiana Tech, who the Aggies beat 64-55 in Logan on Jan. 18.

“We have the road trip from hell coming up,” Morrill said. “This week is crazy. This is not a Big West road trip.”

“It will be another good test for us,” Harris said.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu

Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll dunks the ball at the end of the game against Hawai’i Monday night. The win was Stew Morrill’s 400th as a head coach.