Men’s Basketball: Ags off to the races
After two exhibition games the USU men’s basketball team gets to open the 2008-09 regular season Friday at 7 p.m.
For the second straight year, USU will open the season at home as they host Montana State-Northern.
Located in Havre, Mont., the Lights are a member of the NAIA’s Frontier Conference and are 6-0 on the season. A pair of senior guards, Travis Noble and Chris Johnson, lead MSUN with nearly 22 points a game each.
This game will be the first ever between the Aggies and the Lights.
USU’s young team will be looking to protect the Aggies’ current non-conference home win streak, which sits at 53 games, second in the country only to Duke University’s 58.
The Aggies are also riding a 17-game home win streak carried over from last season.
Tai Wesley has led the Aggies in scoring during the exhibition games, averaging 16 points and six boards a contest, while Gary Wilkinson has averaged nearly 14 points and seven rebounds a game.
Coming off the two exhibition wins, USU head coach Stew Morrill said the Aggies are ready to get the season started.
Morrill said he knows that despite the excitement, the team still has a lot of work to do.
“We have a lot of people that have to figure out a new system and have to figure out the things we do,” Morrill said after USU’s exhibition victory over Concordia. “We will get better.”
As well as being undefeated coming into the Spectrum, the Lights are averaging 83 points per game, while holding their opponents to 59 points. However, the Aggies have a 6-0 record against teams from the Frontier Conference.
The start of this season should come as a relief to coaches, players and fans when compared to last season. The Aggies opened the 2007-08 season with eight games in 16 days.
Under Morrill USU is 9-1 in season openers, including 4-0 at home, and 142-12 (.922) in the Spectrum.
After opening the season at home, USU will hit the road and take on former Big West Conference foe UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 17. The Aggies will then return home for three-game homestand.
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu