Ags welcome Utes to Spectrum
Tonight marks what may possibly be the final meeting in basketball between the Utah State Aggies and the University of Utah Utes. The Utes (3-0) have had a surprisingly strong start to the season and the Aggies (2-1) will be looking to avenge a 68-67 road loss to the Utes from last season. The Aggies will once again be outsized and will have to rely on crisp play execution to come out on top against the Utes.
“Hopefully we play well,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said. “They are long, they are athletic and they are playing hard. I am impressed with what I have seen on film with Utah. It is certainly a challenge, but we are excited about the opportunity.”
The Utes offense is very potent, and they find a way to penetrate against both zone and man defense. The Utes are averaging 80 points over the last three games, and their offense is led by junior point guard Josh Watkins, a junior college transfer from Howard College.
“Their point guard (Josh Watkins) is exceptional,” Morrill said. “He gets everybody looks by pushing the ball on the break, and pushing the ball of the flat ball screens. He is not the only one; there are a lot of guys making plays out there.”
Junior forward Will Clyburn, a junior college transfer from Marshalltown Community College, is the leading the Utes in scoring, as he is averaging 20.7 points and seven rebounds per game.
“Clyburn is having an unbelievable first year to this point, shooting a great percentage from the floor, from three and rebounding it,” Morrill said. “As usual, I don’t remember playing Utah, since I have been here, that they haven’t had good players. They do a good job and they always get good players.”
The Aggies will not only need to worry about the Utes ability to penetrate, but the Utes size as well. With all-WAC senior forward Nate Bendall still out, the Aggies will be very undersized against the the Utes front court.
“He desperately wants to getback as soon as he can, as you could imagine,” Morrill said of Bendall. “He desperately would love to play tomorrow night but that is highly unlikely. He is not in shape, he hasn’t got reps, so that probably just isn’t going to happen.”
Morrill asked, “Can we rebound with their length, quickness and athleticism? We will see. Can we score against that quickness and size? We have got to execute, we have got to get good shots.”
The Aggies do have a few things on their side going into tonight’s matchup however. The Utes have yet to defeat the Aggies under Morrill inside the Spectrum and the Aggies have an experience veteran team. All of the Utes wins thus far are all at home, and the Aggies will be the Utes first road test.
“Certainly, I am glad that we are going in with an experienced team that has played in a lot of these types of games,” We have a lot of really good basketball teams coming in, or we are going to their place, either one. Our schedule is good this pre-season. It should get us ready for league.”
Tip-off against is set for 7:05 p.m tonight at the Spectrum and can be seen on CW30.
-ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu