USU ready to face Weber State
Coming off its biggest win this season against a Division-I opponent, the Utah State men’s basketball team will travel to Ogden to take on the Weber State Wildcats Saturday.
After starting the season 3-0, WSU has lost four games in a row to Utah, Southern Utah, Boise State and Utah Valley State.
USU Head Coach Stew Morrill said that doesn’t mean anything as far as the Aggies are concerned.
“I’ve been to Ogden enough times to know that you don’t play average and win,” he said. “They play hard and well. They have outstanding athletes.”
Despite the Wildcats’ recent losing streak and the Aggies three-game win streak against the WSU, Morrill said in-state games are never predictable.
“You never know where a team is at mentally,” he said. “These in-state games are always hard. The advantage is always to the home team.”
Morrill said it’s the Wildcats defense that makes them dangerous.
“They mix defenses real well,” he said. “They play man, zone and a combination of the two. It causes confusion.”
The Aggies found a new weapon of their own in last Monday’s game at home against Middle Tennessee State in Durrall Peterson. The junior college transfer hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points in USU’s 79-61 win over the Blue Raiders.
Morrill said Peterson has kept the Aggies’ opponents from double-teaming other players.
“Against MTSU, they doubled Nate [Harris], he passed to Durrall, he made a three and they didn’t double after that,” he said. “Utah ran a box-and-one defense on Jaycee [Carroll], he passed to Durrall, he hit a three and they didn’t box-and-one anymore.”
Peterson said he and Carroll can be a very ominous combination for opposing defenses if they both are having a good shooting night.
“We go on streaks,” he said. “We’re a good compliment for each other.”
Morrill said that many people are overlooking USU’s big win over MTSU.
“People don’t understand that MTSU has a good program,” he said. “They’ve had a top-25 recruiting class the last two years.”
The Aggies didn’t pull away from the Blue Raiders until the second half when they started getting rebounds and playing better defense.
Morrill said that’s what the USU must start doing with more consistency.
“If we don’t defend and rebound, we’ll be a very average team,” he said.
Other notes:
• USU beat WSU 73-56 last season in the Spectrum and beat the Wildcats two years ago in Ogden 66-60. The Aggies lead the all-time series with WSU 31-24, but are only 12-14 in Ogden.
• As of Thursday, USU has the best field goal percentage in the country, shooting 55.1 percent.
Indiana is second best with 53.9 percent.
• USU is 12-5 against in-state opponents over the last five years.