Ags taking it step by step
After losing three straight games in conference play, the Utah State Aggie men’s basketball team dropped from first to fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
After a non-conference BracketBusters clash with UC Santa Barbara, the Aggies will return to conference play Thursday night as they host Louisiana Tech. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:05 p.m. and will be televised on Altitude, which is Comcast channel 61.
The contest will be the first of four remaining games for the Aggies. These games are important, as they will determine where the Aggies will finish in the WAC standings.
For Utah State, the equation to win the WAC is simple: Just win.
“We drop three in a row, and we’re in a situation now if we want to still win the league we have to win out,” Aggie freshman Tyler Newbold said.
One big obstacle that stands in the way of the Aggies placing first is a road game against the first-place Boise State Broncos March 6, Aggie assistant coach Don Verlin said.
But that doesn’t mean that Utah State is looking past the last-place Bulldogs.
“We’ve got to play one game at a time and hopefully take care of our home cooking and then go to Boise, and that will be a huge game,” assistant coach Don Verlin said.
To help the Aggies stay focused on the task at hand, Verlin said the team is taking everything one step at time.
“We’ve got to play one possession at a time, have one good practice at a time. We’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves,” Verlin said. “You can’t worry about it, you just go play and see what happens, but the best thing about this year is we have our own destiny in our hands.”
That destiny begins Thursday against the visiting Bulldogs, who are only 1-11 in the WAC and 4-21 overall.
Utah State is looking to win 20 games for the ninth straight year and, despite Louisiana Tech’s record, Verlin said the Aggies have to be ready to battle.
“Louisiana Tech has played a lot of people close, and they’re still playing and still competing,” Verlin said. “They haven’t given up. We’re looking for a good battle, a hard battle, and we’re going to go out and play as hard as we can.”
In the Jan. 24 game in Ruston, La., USU senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll led a quartet of double-figure scorers for Utah State with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Aggies notched a 71-61 victory.
Junior forward Gary Wilkinson had 15 points and nine rebounds for Utah State, while Newbold scored 12 points and senior forward Stephen DuCharme added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Kyle Gibson scored 17 points to lead Louisiana Tech, while Dwayne Lathan had 14 points. Utah State scored the first seven points of the game and led 26-6 with 9:23 to play on a dunk by DuCharme. Louisiana Tech then scored 22 of the next 25 points during a six-minute span to get within one before USU finished the half with seven straight points for an eight-point lead at the half.
Utah State began the second half much like the first as it scored 10 of the first 12 points. The Aggies increased their margin to 23 on a DuCharme jumper with 4:33 to play. The Aggies led by 20 with 1:44 remaining before the Bulldogs ended the game with a 13-3 run against Utah State’s reserves to make the final margin 10 points.
It was the Bulldogs’ press defense that allowed them to get back into the game and forced Utah State into a season-high 24 turnovers. Verlin said the team has worked hard in practice on breaking the press.
“We’ve worked on it, we’ve watched a lot of film and adjusted our press breaker a bit,” Verlin explained.
Newbold said the team is more aware of the Bulldogs’ pressure, and it has been the number one focus in practice.
“We have really focused on their pressure and what we’re going to do against it in practice,” Newbold said.
After Thursday night’s game, the Aggies will remain at home for senior night on Monday against Fresno State. The game at BSU will follow before the regular season concludes March 8 at Idaho.
“We win out and we win the league,” Verlin said. “We know that, so we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu