No. 17 Aggies can clinch share of WAC against Idaho
The No. 17 Utah State Aggies men’s basketball team is nearing an incredible milestone. With a win against the Idaho Vandals tonight, the Aggies would clinch at least a share of their fourth consecutive Western Athletic Conference title. With the pressure and expectations growing, the Aggies aren’t taking anything for granted.
“We are hoping that we can continue to just give ourselves a chance to win,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said. “We have great respect for Idaho. We feel like they are a team that could very easily be 8-3 in the league right now. If you look at some of their close losses, they could have gone the other way.”
The Vandals (13-10, 6-5) broke a four-game losing streak over the weekend against the Hawaii Warriors, 75-61. Despite the losing streak, Morrill and the Aggies (22-2, 11-0) know better than to overlook the Vandals.
“They have a number of seniors that have been through the wars,” Morrill said. “They have a really good shooting team. They made 10-of-18 3-pointers against Hawaii. They are leading our league in 3-point shooting and that seems to be a big factor when they win games. When they win games they make a lot of threes. That is certainly a challenge for our defense.”
Senior guard Jeff Ledbetter is leading the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game, and he is shooting a blazing 46.2 percent from 3-point range. Sophomore center Kyle Barone and junior forward Luiz Toledo are contributing 11 and 10 points per game, respectively.
“When you look at their guys that can really shoot the ball and there are a bunch of them,” Morrill said. “Jeff Ledbetter obviously leads the way with his ability to get the shot off quick and shoot such a high percentage.”
Morrill’s coaching tree has become quite extensive over the years and he generally doesn’t enjoy coaching against former assistants, but visiting Vandals head coach and former Aggie assistant head coach Don Verlin is be a different story.
“I am obviously pleased with what Coach Verlin is doing at Idaho,” Morrill said. “It is always difficult when you have to play each other. I will get the chance to have breakfast with Coach Verlin and visit. I don’t do that with very many coaches in our league on game day. Game day is pretty busy and hectic emotionally, but we always make a point to try to do that and catch up on family and other things. I look forward to that.”
Verlin isn’t the only person the Morrill will be reuniting with. Former Aggie guard Deremy Geiger, who played during the 2008-09 season as a true freshman, now plays for Idaho. Geiger left the team and transferred to North Texas Junior College after just one season with Aggies.
“He is a great kid,” Morrill said. “We liked Deremy a lot. It was an academic situation. There was never any issue with his character or effort. We enjoyed having him. There are no hard feelings. I don’t think he would have ended up with someone from our program if he had felt badly about what happened here.”
Geiger is also thriving in the Vandals program, averaging 9.3 points and 2.9 assists a game, and Morrill couldn’t be any more pleased for the former Aggie guard.
“I am certainly happy for Deremy Geiger,” Morrill said. “He left here having to get some things in order, and he has done that. He has done a really good job in junior college and now for Idaho. When we look at him on film he is playing well. He runs their team.”
Game time against the Vandals is slated for 9 p.m. inside the Cowan Spectrum at the Kibbie Dome, and can be seen on ESPN2.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu