Ags receive extra day in Cali
Routine.
It’s comfortable and familiar. But throw a twist into the situation and everything becomes off balance.
It’s a feeling the Utah State men’s basketball team is dealing with this week as it travels to California for an unusual Wednesday game against UC Irvine.
Following the matchup with the Anteaters, the Aggies will travel to Long Beach State on Saturday.
Because of the midweek game with UCI, the Aggies left Utah on Tuesday, a day earlier than most other road trips.
The schedule change has forced Utah State to change up its practices a little.
“Of course you’d like to have your normal routine,” said Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill. “Monday what we usually do is really work on ourselves … then Tuesday we gear up a little more on preparation and Wednesday is a big prep day.”
But that’s just how the schedule fell and the Aggies have been adjusting to it.
Morrill said he isn’t so much concerned about the lack of preparation, but the length of the trip.
“Being down there Tuesday through Sunday is just a long time,” he said. “When you look at college basketball and why the home team wins so much … I think a lot of it is routine.
“You’re at your best when you are in your normal routine.”
And the Anteaters certainly wouldn’t argue that. UCI is 4-0 this season at home, scoring 74.2 points per game and allowing only 66.3.
Another factor of comfort to UC Irvine is that the Anteaters are returning four starters from last season — except Jerry Green.
Junior Adam Parada, a strong force from last season, is proving to lead UCI in points (12.8) and rebounds (5.3).
According to NCAA Division I statistics released Tuesday, Parada is second in field-goal percentage at .659.
“Any time you are making 70 percent of your shots, you are doing just fine,” Morrill said on the status of Parada. “He’s got great size, great touch and they’re going to him a lot harder than they have in the past.”
Morrill said he is concerned with the size of the Anteaters because no player is under six feet tall.
He said this especially becomes a problem because it causes the Aggies to not double team Parada because they have to continue to guard every player on the court.
Newcomer Jeff Gloger is currently ranked No. 3 in the country in steals at 3.6 per game.
“He doesn’t seem to be playing much like a freshman,” Morrill said. “He’s just running around making things happen. He really concerns you with all of his steals.”
Last season, the Anteaters fell 66-61 to UC Santa Barbara in the 2002 Big West Conference semifinals. UCI also fell 78-55 in the first round of the 2002 National Invitation Tournament to BYU.
During Morrill’s radio call-in show Monday, a fan asked if the Aggie coach had been writing a column on collegeinsiders.com.
This was news to Morrill.
After investigation by the Utah State Athletics department, it was discovered that the words used were in fact what Morrill said during his weekly press conferences.
Will the “column” remain? Probably not — Morrill said he would prefer that it stopped.
–juag@cc.usu.edu