Morrill concerned with road trip to Ruston, La.
Part two of USU’s grueling road trip will be against the reeling Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 14, and the Aggies will look to bounce back from a blowout loss to the New Mexico State Aggies on Thursday.
Junior forward Kyisean Reed scored 18 points in the losing effort as New Mexico State out-rebounded USU and finished the game on a 32-12 run to win 80-60.
“We’ve just got to come out and play a full game,” Reed said. “That’s all there is — play a full game, and we know we have a chance to win.”
The Bulldogs took an 8-7 record into Western Athletic Conference play before dropping their first two conference games of the season. Louisiana Tech fell to New Mexico State 83-73.
Bulldog guard Raheem Appleby, who leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game, scored 19 points in a losing effort to NMSU, and the freshman followed up that performance with another 19 points in an overtime loss to Idaho 90-88.
Senior guard Trevor Gaskins is the only other Louisiana Tech player averaging double-figure scoring with 10.4 points per game.
The Bulldogs have struggled on offense this season, averaging about 68 points per game and shooting a 40 percent clip from the field overall.
Despite their struggles, USU head coach Stew Morrill is impressed with the Bulldogs.
“It looks to me like they are playing really hard, very athletic and causing havoc with some pressure,” he said.
The Bulldogs finished in last place, last season (12-20, 2-14 WAC), and Morrill compared Louisiana Tech to Fresno State, which struggled last season and has improved this season.
“I have only to this point watched them in their game against New Mexico State,” he said. “They’re playing hard, and I am impressed with what I see.
USU is now 1-6 on the road, and Morrill is hoping his team can turn things around and be successful.
“We haven’t been good enough on the road,” Morrill said. “We need to find a way to win a road game before we can even figure that we’re going to get much done. We’ve been horrendous on the road in terms of wins.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu