Aggies prep for piar of in-state battles
The Utah State men’s basketball team is off to a hot start this season, and the Aggies are looking to keep their undefeated streak intact against a pair of in-state rivals on the road this week.
USU (4-0 overall, 0-0 MWC) will travel to Ogden to face the Weber State Wildcats (0-2, 0-0) Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
The game will be the middle of a stretch of three games in seven days. The Aggies defeated Mississippi State at home on Saturday.
“Pretty quick turnaround for us,” said USU head coach Stew Morrill. “We’ve got three games in a seven-day period, then two games in about 14 days. It’s interesting the way the schedule falls.”
Tuesday’s game against Weber State will be a nice road test for the Aggies. The Wildcats are coached by former USU assistant Randy Rahe, who is very familiar with Morrill and his team’s style of play.
Rahe spent 13 years as an assistant under Morrill at Colorado State and USU before accepting the head coach job at Weber State in 2007. The Wildcats should prove to be a formidable foe for the Aggies.
“We know how ready Weber State is going to be,” Morrill said. “They haven’t had a home game yet. They’ve had two very tough road games to open the year. They’ve had nine or 10 days to get ready for us.
“The coaches know what we’re walking into and hopefully our players do as well. We’ll see. It’s always a game where the teams are familiar with each other, the systems are very familiar. There’s also enough differences personnel and system-wise to make preparation not so easy. It’s not just a matter of them running the same stuff we do. There are some differences. It’s a good test for us, I’d say.”
Following the matchup with Weber, the Aggies will close out their road trip Saturday night. USU will travel to Salt Lake City to face BYU (4-1, 0-0), one of the Aggies’ biggest rivals. The Cougars are coming off a loss to No. 21 Iowa State at home on Wednesday.
Saturday night’s game will be held at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake, making it a neutral-court showdown for both teams. As always, the two rivalry games will be highly-anticipated, both by players and fans.
“In-state games are always tough,” Morrill said. “I grew up in this state. I’ve got great appreciation for the basketball programs and the traditions and all of that throughout the state. It’s been a really good basketball state for a long time.
“These two games should have special meaning to our players, as any in-state game should have. Right now, all our focus needs to be on Weber State. We’ll have some days to get ready for BYU after that.”
Student tickets for both of this week’s games are still available for purchase. Tickets are $5 with a current USU student ID card. They are on sale at the card office on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center.
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