Aggie men topple Grand Canyon in dominating fashion
Senior forward Tai Wesley had a near-perfect night, scoring 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting, and junior guard Brockeith Pane dished out 10 assists to lead the Utah State Aggies over the Division II Grand Canyon Antelopes Saturday night at the Spectrum, 76-46.
“Tonight it felt good,” Wesley said. “I only had one guy on my back so it felt like I could have my way down there. One thing I thought that helped was us getting stops. We were able to get stops and run and that got us some easy looks. That kind of got me going.”
The Aggies matched the physical pressure of the ‘Lopes with suffocating defense as they limited them to 29.6 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from the 3-point arc.
“We did play better ‘D’,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill. “I thought we came out and played hard. That was totally different kind of game than our first exhibition game, so it was good for us to see that kind of pressure. We did a good job of holding them down percentage-wise and scoring at a pretty high clip.”
The Aggies shot a sweltering 62 percent from the floor, and all but two of the Aggies who saw playing time scored. For the second consecutive game, junior forward Brady Jardine finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. The Aggies did struggle with turnovers, committing 15 on the night, which was in large part due to the ‘Lopes defensive pressure.
“(We had) too many turnovers, but they force you to make some plays,” Morrill said. “You can’t just run your offense, you have to make some basketball plays and we did a pretty good job of that. If we shoot 62 percent, I’ll always be happy. Whatever happened out there, if you’re percentage is at 62 percent, you’ll live with it. I wasn’t displeased with our offense. “
The Aggies wasted no-time putting a choke hold on the ‘Lopes offense, as they jumped out to an early 19-9 lead and went on a 20-9 to finish the half with a 39-18 lead. The ‘Lopes’ starters struggled the entire game and accounted for only five of the ‘Lopes 18 first-half points. The Lopes’ starters only managed two more points the rest of the game. Sophomore guards Steve Morin and Brad Carroll came off the bench and scored 13 and 12 points respectively to lead the ‘Lopes.
“Coach told us this week that we had to get down and dirty on defense,” Pane said. “We did our best to guard. We gotta to continue to keep going. If we want to be a top team, we have to bring it every night.”
Wesley said, “I thought our defense took a step forward, especially in the first half. Tonight we came out on it. We heard that they thought our defense was suspect so we wanted to come out and make a statement and I thought we did.”
The Aggies only managed three points in the final four minutes of the game, and that brings some concern because their schedule only becomes more challenging when the season starts on Saturday.
“We’ve still got a long way to go and obviously the level of competition improves with four straight in-state games coming up,” Morrill said. “The main thing I’m concerned about with our basketball team is that we practice more consistently. We’ll have real good one then we’ll have a real bad one. We’re just a ways away in terms of practice habits. So that’s certainly going to be a key.”
Last season the Aggies struggled greatly at the beginning of the season and Morrill attributed the struggle to inconsistent practice habits. If the Aggies don’t want a repeat of last year they will need to hone their practice skills and buy into Morrill’s system. The Aggies host the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday and they will have their hands full with junior guard Damian Lillard, who averaged 25 points per game during the Wildcats’ exhibition games.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu