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USU prepares for senior night versus Colorado State

Long-time Aggie coach Stew Morrill and sixth-year senior Sean Harris will play their final home game on Saturday night against the Colorado State Rams.

“We are excited about the challenge of playing them,” Morrill said. “We know we didn’t play well in Laramie the other night. We are going to have to play a lot better than that to have a chance in this basketball game.”

Wednesday, against Wyoming, Utah State scored 53 points, and Wyoming won big 76-53 to end a six-game USU win streak. Now, looking to regroup, the young Utah State squad must face a talented group from Colorado State. Utah State is tied for fourth place with Wyoming and has a chance to move up with a win. Colorado State is in third place, one game ahead of Utah State.

“It will be a challenge for us,” Morrill said. “Colorado State has a very good basketball team. They are a little bit of a nightmare in figuring out how to defend. They’ve got really good depth. They’ve got a couple of premier players. They are so good on the boards. They get to the line a ton.”

Colorado State has won four of its last five contests and is led in scoring by senior forward J.J. Avila. He scores over 16 points per game and also leads the team in rebounding with nearly 8 per game. In the post with Avila is fellow senior Stanton Kidd, who scores 11 per game. Along with the inside players, the Rams boast a host of talented guards including John Gillon, Daniel Bejarano and Joe De Ciman.

Utah State averages just over 30 rebounds per game and Colorado State gets over 37 a night. It hasn’t been as big of a factor in the recent Aggie winning streak but, early on in the season losing the battle on the boards cost USU.

“They are always good on the boards and are always good defensively,” Morrill said. “That is where they hang their hat; in being able to rebound the ball, guard you and having excellent depth.”

Although it’s senior night for Utah State, there’s only one senior on the roster and the majority of minutes are played by underclassmen. Sophomore wing Jalen Moore leads the team, scoring more than 15 points per game. Moore is followed in scoring by freshman David Collette who puts in 13 per game. The two are also the top rebounders for the Aggies.

Two junior college transfers, Darius Perkins and Chris Smith, play in the frontcourt for Utah State with true freshman Julion Pearre. Perkins leads the trio in assists at over three a game and also scores almost 10 points per game. Smith notches 12 points each game and Pearre adds six.

“Our players need to focus on Colorado State because that is where their attention needs to be in order for us to have any opportunity to compete,” Morrill said. “They need to try and win that basketball game for themselves and not for Sean, not for me, but for themselves and hopefully they will.”

– Kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com

Twitter: @kalen_taylor