Aggies to play national champions with help of new staffer
The Aggies will play last season’s national champions, the Duke Blue Devils, on November 29 with the help of new assistant coach Luis Wilson.
The newly-named head coach of Utah State, Tim Duryea, said in his first press conference as head coach he wanted more games that were nationally televised and good for the program.
“I am thrilled for our players to be able to have this opportunity, especially our seniors,” Duryea said of the game. “When you talk about modern day college basketball programs and coaches, Duke and Coach K are the gold standard. To be able to go and compete on a national stage, in one of the cathedrals of college basketball, will be a great experience for our team and it is also a fun way for our fans to be involved as well.”
The first-ever meeting between the two schools will be nationally televised on ESPNU, bringing Utah State a chance to gain recognition while competing against a strong program. Duke returns just six players from last season, however they signed the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the nation.
The Blue Devils’ recruits include multiple five-star signees and three McDonald’s All-Americans.
The Aggies return all five starters and nine letter-winners from last season. Utah State will also have Lew Evans, a Tulsa transfer, and Grayson Moore, brother of Jalen Moore and transfer student from Northwest Nazarene. Both are eligible to play after sitting out their transfer year last year.
Joining Duryea on the sidelines will be new assistant coach Luis Wilson, who was appointed to the position on May 21. Prior to Utah State, Wilson had coached at Adams State since 2010.
“I am grateful to Coach Duryea for the opportunity to be a part of a special university like Utah State, a community like Logan and a basketball program like the Aggies,” said Wilson when he officially joined the USU staff. “I have been an NCAA college basketball coach for 23 seasons and most of that time has been spent in the shadows of the great traditions of this program. I have seen, up close, the success this basketball program has had. It has been one of the most consistent winners in college basketball over the past decade.”
At Adams State, Wilson led the Grizzlies to a pair of 20-win seasons and finished his tenure as the winningest coach in school history at a 0.674 winning percentage. Wilson’s teams advanced to three NCAA D-II National Tournaments in five years and ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation.
Wilson’s squads were also fundamentally sound as they led the nation in steals with over 12 per game and turnovers at just under 22 per game in the 2011-12 season. His teams also finished among the top 20 in the nation in scoring all five season he was at the helm of Adams State.
Prior to Adams State, Wilson was the associate head coach at California State University, Northridge, helping the Matadors to back-to-back Big West Conference Championships in 2008 and 2009. CSUN also captured a Big West Tournament Championship in 2009, earning a 15th seed to the NCAA Tournament.
Wilson began his coaching career as an assistant at Southern Utah University from 1992 until 1998, and with Idaho State University from 1998 to 2006. He helped the Bengals to a Big Sky runner-up finish in 2004 and guiding the Thunderbirds to an American West Conference Championship in 1995.
Wilson played collegiately as William Jewell College and was inducted in the WJC Hall of the Fame as a member of the 1987-88 team that finished with a 32-2 record.