Aggies to battle Cowboys at home
With the sting of a disappointing overtime loss to UNLV still fresh in their minds, the Aggies will have to bounce back quickly to take on the Wyoming Cowboys, currently first-place in the Mountain West Conference, on Tuesday in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
“The thing that jumps out at me watching them on video yesterday and this morning is just their experience,” said USU head basketball coach Stew Morrill. “They’re tough. They have a guy that’s probably a pro playing on their team in (Larry) Nance (Jr.), and we are coming off a loss that’s about as tough as it gets.”
The Pokes lead the Mountain West with a 6-1 record (17-3 overall), their only loss coming earlier this month against San Diego State. Though Utah State has given itself a fighting chance in each of its seven conference matchups so far this season, the Aggies find themselves in the middle of the pack with a 4-3 record, due in part to what Morrill describes as simply a matter of inexperience.
“It’s not the inability to shoot the ball,” Morrill said. “It’s not lack of practice. It’s not any of those things. It’s just our nerves and our inexperience.”
Tuesday’s game will pit USU’s biggest weakness against one of Wyoming’s greatest strengths.
“They’re in first place in our league,” Morrill said. “They’ve won a lot of close games.”
USU will have its hands full with Nance’s inside presence on Tuesday. The 6-foot-8 senior was named to the All-Mountain West team last year despite an ACL tear in his right knee that cut his season short. Nance is averaging more than 16 points per game this season, punctuated by a 23-point performance Saturday to lift the Cowboys over New Mexico in overtime.
“When you talk about Wyoming, it starts with Nance,” Morrill said. “They play through him. He’s a dominant inside guy. He plays the four and the five. He’s very athletic and very smart.”
Morrill emphasized the importance of the Spectrum crowd against a quality Wyoming squad.
“I hope our crowd understands that this is a team that has been in the top 25 and has been getting a lot of votes. Still at this point, (it) could very well be in the top 25,” Morrill said. “These are the games that everybody wanted in the Mountain West Conference, so here they are.”
The Cowboys will arrive in Logan having won nine of their last 10, including back-to-back overtime victories, but the Spectrum has a reputation under Morrill that can’t be ignored. Last year’s Aggie squad took the then-No. 7 SDSU to overtime in front of a packed house, and Morrill expects the fans to be a factor for the rest of the year as they were in that game.
“Let’s rally,” Morrill said. “The home courts you find in this league are exceptional, and when ours is at its best, it’s exceptional. We need it at its best over the remainder of our home games in league play.”
— logantjones@gmail.com
Twitter: @logantj