Ags prepare for Senior Night: Carroll, Clark and DuCharme to play last game in the Spectrum
There are a few reasons the USU men’s basketball team wants to win Monday night’s game against Fresno State.
First off, the Aggies need to win each of their remaining three games to secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Second, a win will give the Aggies their first undefeated season at the Spectrum since the 2000-01 season.
Third, Monday’s 7:05 p.m. match-up is the final game in the Spectrum for seniors Jaycee Carroll, Kris Clark and Stephen DuCharme.
As they and USU head coach Stew Morrill put it, Senior Night need not be a somber occasion for the seniors.
“It should be a great game and a great atmosphere and a celebration,” Carroll said Saturday night. “Like coach Morrill said, ‘Not a death, but a celebration.’ I’m excited and looking forward to it. At the same time, it’s the last game and that’s unfortunate. I’d love to play 100 more games here.”
Clark echoed that remark.
“Oh man. It’s the last game,” Clark said. “That’s what coach preaches to the seniors. You’ve got to be excited that it’s your last game here. Not disappointed, not upset.”
The 2007-08 senior class was four players at the beginning of the season, but Nick Hammer quit the team early on for medical reasons.
But, even down one man, statistics prove it’s still a special senior class.
The All-American Carroll became USU’s all-time leading scorer Jan. 19 at the Spectrum, against Idaho. Carroll is currently the nation’s top 3-point shooter (50.3 percent), fifth in free-throw percentage (91.7 percent) and 13th in scoring (22.3 points per game).
Clark set the USU single-season assist record (190) Saturday night and is eighth in the nation in assists per game (6.55).
Though DuCharme lost his starting spot early on to redshirt freshman Tai Wesley, he has provided a lift off the bench worth nine points and five boards per game. His field-goal percentage is 56.1 percent.
The seniors are buoyed by the rest of the team, which, as of March 1, is leading the nation in field-goal percentage (51.1) and free-throw percentage (78.7).
It’s a key statistic the Aggies are looking to perpetuate in order to avoid a repeat of last year’s Senior Night-a 71-66 loss to Fresno State on the same date of March 3. In that game, the Aggies shot 37 percent from the field.
“We go into Senior Night, and it’s Fresno again, with a chance to be undefeated at home,” Morrill said. “We’ve just got to focus in on possession by possession.”
After Monday’s game, the Aggies travel to Boise State Thursday and then to Moscow, Idaho, to take on the Idaho Vandals Saturday.
Winning these final three games is the only sure way for USU to go in on top at the WAC tournament March 11-15 in Las Cruces, N.M.
“With only three games left, we’ve got to be confident with where we are,” Carroll said. “We’ve got to be excited about the improvements we’ve made, but still working hard every day to get better. Are we tournament ready? Yeah, we could go in and have a good tournament right now, but with a couple more weeks of practice and three more games, hopefully we can get a lot better and be a lot more tournament ready.”
Though the Aggies will be playing three games this week, Morrill said the best is yet to come for his team.
“The schedule is kind of odd, but there’s a lot of good things that can still happen for this team,” Morrill said. “That’s what they need to focus on being positive and trying to make good things happen, because they’ve done a good, solid job so far. In this business, winning is the name of the game, and you want to keep working. That’s just the way it is.”
-samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu