Aggies primed for first tournament win since 2001
For the first time since 2006 the Aggies are dancing. It took a school-record 30 wins along with a regular season and conference tournament championship, but USU is back in the Big Dance.
Despite being given a No. 11 seed – slightly lower than most projected – the Aggies were awarded with what is a veritable home game in Boise, Idaho. Obviously, it’s not the Spectrum, but it’s proximity to Logan, not to mention all the Boise State fans that will be cheering the Ags on, will give them a definite edge in that department.
USU will be facing the sixth-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles. Marquette finished in fifth place in the powerful Big East conference, but the Golden Eagles limp into the NCAA’s having lost five of their past six games.
A big reason for that losing streak is the loss of four-year starting point guard Dominic James. The Golden Eagles have sorely missed his maturity and his ability to make plays.
Even with the things the Aggies have going for them, USU knows it will be in for a fight as the Ags try to advance to the second round for the first time since the 2001 season when they were a No. 12 seed and upended No. 5 seeded Ohio State.
“It will be a good challenge for us, a good test to see how good we really are,” said junior Jared Quayle. “We are playing in Boise. You couldn’t ask for a better place to play … it will be fun.”
The Golden Eagles on the other hand are going to their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament, but first under new head coach Buzz Williams.
“They are a good team, it is almost a home game for them,” said Marquette senior guard Wesley Mathews of the Aggies. “They shoot the ball well, and they have two solid ‘bigs’ and a solid point guard. They make plays. If they didn’t, they would not be in this tournament … they are in it to win it just like we are.”
This will be an interesting matchup for the Aggies as it will put USU’s inside strength against the Golden Eagles’ outside strength. Marquette plays a faster-paced game than the Ags and they average 78.8 points a game while holding opponents a shade less than 70.
Some of the big keys for a positive outcome for the Ags are going to be their ability to control the tempo of the game, run their offensive sets and limit turnovers. The Golden Eagles average an incredible eight steals per contest.
“Their guards are unbelievable, they are quick and athletic,” said Aggie senior Gary Wilkinson. “Their guards dominate the game … I am excited for it, it will be a great matchup.”
Unlike the Golden Eagles, the Aggies are heading into their first round matchup having won four in row – three straight at the WAC tournament – after a 3-3 stretch towards the end of the season.
“We played great down in Reno, hopefully, we can carry that over to (Friday),” Quayle said. “It is going to be a tough game, and we are going to have to give it all. We are going to go in there and play with confidence, and play great defense to win.”
Though it was the Aggies’ defense that led them to the tournament championship, their offense hasn’t been too shabby, either. Heading into today’s matchup, the Ags are leading the nation in field goal-shooting at 49.8 percent.
Overall, it should be a hard-fought game with two competing styles being showcased on the court. Whichever team is most successful in implementing and executing its game plan will emerge victorious.
USU head coach Stew Morrill hopes that team is his.
“They need to know that we need to go compete and believe that we can go compete. In our experiences in the NCAA Tournament, for the most part, we’ve been very, very competitive. We haven’t won a game for a while, but we’ve had a lot of opportunities to compete,” he said. “We were ahead at the half against Arizona (in 2005) and we took Kansas to the wire (in 2003) and a win over Ohio State (in 2001). There’s a lot of things that happen in the NCAA Tournaments. We earned our way in there, no questions about it, we just need to be ready to go.”
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu