Aggie men looking to rebound on road

After suffering its first home loss of the season, the Utah State men’s basketball team will go on the road to face the Idaho Vandals in Moscow, Idaho, Wednesday.

The game will start at 8 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on the Aggie Radio Network on FM 94.5 or they can watch the game online at www.wac.org.

The Aggies beat the Vandals 83-58 in Logan in their only meeting thus far this season, but head coach Stew Morrill said that is no reason think that it will be another easy win for USU.

“We know what we’re in for when we go to Moscow,” he said. “Through the years, we understand that [head coach] Leonard [Perry] is going to have them ready.”

Idaho is only 4-17 on the season and 1-9 in Western Athletic Conference play, but the Vandals won their last home game 72-61 over Fresno State.

“If you look at them by their record and not by how they’re playing right now, you’re making a mistake,” Morrill said. “We have to bounce back after a tough loss and play with some urgency.”

USU lost to Idaho the last time it traveled to Moscow. The Vandals beat the Aggies 69-62 last season.

Wednesday’s game will be played in the Memorial Gym instead of the Cowan Spectrum. Memorial Gym only seats 2,000 spectators to the Cowan Spectrum’s 7,000.

Morrill said the smaller gym has been good for Idaho.

“It’s a cracker-jack box type gym,” he said. “It’s a great home-court advantage for them while they’re in there.”

The Aggies lost to New Mexico State last Saturday in the Spectrum. It was the second loss in nine days to the southern Aggies.

“It was a tough game for us,” Morrill said. “It was a good basketball game throughout. They made a lot of shots. There were some matchup problems for us guarding them off the dribble.”

Morrill said every team in the conference knows the other teams play at this point in the season.

“I think everyone’s aware of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “They will try and exploit those. But by playing out of your system, you can hurt yourself trying to exploit that.”

Morrill said there is no clear favorite to win the conference at this point.

“Whoever’s hot at the right time and put together a streak of wins can win this thing,” he said.

After Wednesday’s game, the Aggies will return home to face the Northwestern State Demons Saturday in USU’s first appearance in a BracketBuster game. The game will air on ESPNU.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu