Sophomore shines in victory
Sophomore Danny Berger had his redshirt pulled when the Aggie bench was shortened by forward Brady Jardine’s ankle injury earlier this season.
In his first game for Utah State this season, the Medford, Ore., native went 4 for 6 including two 3-pointers.
“I was just trying to execute the offense and take looks if I had them,” Berger said. “The plays work. Coach Morrill is a great coach and knows what he is doing. I just take advantage of open looks.”
Berger also had six rebounds, one assist and a steal in the victory.
Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said the guard was ready to play.
“He came in and performed well for us,” Morrill said. “In practice we did a lot of stuff where we had to be physical. We had a lot of rebounding drills and a lot of stuff coach was really telling we need to be physical and have a lot of energy and we did that.”
Aggie guard Preston Medlin said he was happy with the way Berger played.
“Coach was really telling us that we needed a lot of energy coming from the bench, coming from everybody on the floor, and we did that,” Medlin said.
Morrill said he originally planned on giving Berger a redshirt because of how little he has played basketball since returning from a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
“He hasn’t played for years,” Morrill said. “The reason we brought him off redshirt is what you saw tonight. He’s got a really good feel. He tried to make a couple of passes that were ill-advised, but he can make shots, he can make plays. He’s got a good feel offensively and we desperately need that. It’s nice to see him perform.”
Morrill also said if Berger keeps performing well, it is likely he will see more playing time.
“If guys play well, they’ll play more,” Morrill said. “I sure liked what I saw tonight.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Quotes
Berger
“I had just had an open lane to the basket and I took it.”
“I just had an open look and I just took it. I don’t pass those up very often. It felt good.”
“I think their defense was a little scrambled at times. We just had open lanes the basket and I just took it strong to the hoop.”
Medlin
“Coach was stressing that we needed a win all week.”
“Coach was stressing for us to have energy all week and I felt like we came out and hustled. Guys would get on the floor. We were getting good rebounds and they weren’t getting many good offensive rebounds, so I thought it was good.”
“Coach was really telling us that we needed a lot of energy coming from the bench, coming from everybody on the floor, and we did that.”
On Berger
“He was ready to play tonight.
“The next few days of practice will be good. Will do some skeleton and get our plays down and make sure we have everything down before we get to Witchita.”
Did Stone’s presence help the team by physical?
“I think it did a little bit. Coach thinks that Jordan is a real physical guy and he came out and didn’t get pushed around at all.”
Morrill
“I was pleased with how we came out to start the game. We tried really effort and that’s something we’ve been stressing — just to play with some passion and energy. We got really manhandled at Pacific and it was nice to see us come out and be the aggressors a little bit.”
“Everything certainly wasn’t close to being perfect, but we needed a win badly for our spirits, for our confidence and we got one. It’s something we can build on and hopefully get better. That’s what we’ll try and do.”
“Our defensive effort for the most part was really good. We got stymied on offense sometimes. We’ve got to develop more weapons. We’ve got to have guys with more confidence, but our defense our offense was good enough to get a win.”
ON Berger
“Preston had a really good game. Adam came off and guarded really hard. Kyisean, coming off the bench, we need him to play full throttle. He kind of plays in spurts right now, but he had a good spurt there. He got some points and rebounds and he gives a little something coming off the bench athletically and energy-wise.”
“They got tired of being called soft for several days. We were playing soft. We were soft at Pacific and soft in practice and nobody likes to here that. It’s not a flattering term in athletics and they responded a little bit, so that was good.”
On if Berger will play more.
“If guys play well, they’ll play more. If one guy plays better than another guy, they’ll play more. I sure liked what I saw tonight.”