Aggie newcomers shine in basketball debut
It may only have been an exhibition game, but someone forgot to tell Utah State fans they didn’t have to show up to watch the Aggies dismantle the Grand Canyon ‘Lopes 76-44 on Friday.
While it wasn’t a performance mirroring the crowd during the 2009 Nevada game, HURD members and ticket buyers made a solid showing.
They weren’t the only ones.
Several Aggies made their Spectrum debuts, most notably junior center Jarred Shaw, who came to Logan from Oklahoma State to play under head coach Stew Morrill, but had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.
“For his first game in several years, he did a nice job,” Morrill said of Friday’s starting center.
Shaw played 23 minutes in his first game as an Aggie, pulling down a game-high eight rebounds and scoring 15 points.
“He’s learning what coach Morrill wants him to do,” said junior guard Preston Medlin. “I feel like that’s good for him.”
The 6-foot-10-inch, 235-pounder also had two blocks and three personal fouls.
Shaw said Morrill told him to relax when he took his first substitution break on the bench.
“I missed a couple shots at the beginning, but basketball you can’t get down, you got to just keep going,” Shaw said. “I felt like I was taking good shots, I feel like I just missed. Everybody misses.”
Shaw didn’t miss with five minutes to go when he electrified the crowd of 8,076 with a dunk to put the Aggies up 30-14.
Shaw was whistled for a technical foul seconds later when he pounded his chest in celebration.
“We’ve got to get rid of some of the antics,” Morrill said. “That’s already been discussed. We’re not going to chest bump and talk crap. We’re not going to do that. We don’t do that here. He’ll learn that.”
Medlin said Shaw had a great game other than
the technical foul.
“I felt like he did awesome,” Medlin said. “He was physical, he was getting rebounds, he was making good post moves and that’s everything we need out of him, so if he can keep that up during the season, he’ll be a big player for us.”
Shaw lost the starting tipoff, went 2-5 from the field and didn’t get a defensive rebound in the first half, but he wasn’t the only one who seemed to have first-game jitters.
“We had a lot of guys going in and out,” Morrill said. “That makes it a little hard to get a flow going. We played a lot of different people.”
Freshman point guard Marcel Davis missed his three field goals in the first half and ended 1-5 on the night with a turnover. Lone senior Kyisean Reed went 1-6, though the big man had six rebounds and seven steals.
“We played hard, that was the most positive thing,” Morrill said. “There’s a lot of execution things that aren’t there, but I was pleased by how hard we played.”
Ten different Utah State players logged double-digit minutes in the game, seven playing more than 17 minutes each.
“I was pretty impressed how he was rotating guys, getting everyone their chance to get a feel of how a game actually feels,” Shaw said of Morrill’s substitutions. “I think it builds team chemistry just to rotate different guys in.”
Fans will get a second opportunity to see the new Utah State players when the Aggies take on Simon Fraser on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Spectrum.
“I’m already in love with the Spectrum. I mean, this was the first game and they’re already into it,” Shaw said. “I really appreciate the fans and everybody who came out to support us.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @StuckiAggies