Basketball looks to bounce back after season opener loss
A trip down south to Louisiana couldn’t help the men’s basketball team win last Friday, but perhaps a trip up north to Fairbanks, Alaska, will.
The team will play the first game of the Top of The World Classic Friday night against Centenary. It will be the first of three games over as many days for the 0-1 Aggies.
After opening the season with a 88-71 loss at Northwestern State, the team will try and rebound against Centenary, a school from the Mid-Continent Conference. Over the past seven years, Utah State is 35-8 following a loss.
This year, however, the program has nine new players including six junior college transfers. Head Coach Stew Morrill said in a post-game interview that all of the new players to the program certainly was a factor in the outcome of Game 1.
“Our lack of experience in spots didn’t help,” he said.
The tight schedule of three games in three days will give the men a chance to see what the team is made of.
“It’s really hard to predict where it’s going to go,” Morrill said. “[The Top of the World Classic] will help our team get better, playing three games in three days. It’s important for them to figure out what they need to do to be successful. This team has not figured that out in terms of practice habits. I’m not talking about winning 20 games. I’m talking about competing.”
The Aggies will certainly need to compete against Centenary tonight. The Centenary Gents are from Shreveport, La., and come into the game with an 0-1 record after losing at Texas Christian 72-66. The team returns three starters from last season’s team that went 4-23. Centenary is led by senior forward Alexander Starr, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the game against the Horned Frogs, while sophomore guard Tyrone Hamilton scored 11 points.
The Aggies will be led by junior guard Jaycee Carroll, who scored 19 points in the season opener. Nick Hammer scored 12 points on opening night.
A key for Aggie success in Alaska will be for the team to cut down on turnovers. Against Northwestern’s high-pressure defense, the team had 21 turnovers, including nine between the point guards. Also the defense allowed the Demons to shoot 46 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Utah State will be playing in their fourth Top of the World classic. The last time the team participated in the tournament was in 2004, when they took third place.
Besides Utah State and Centenary, six other teams are playing in the classic: Drake, Southeast Missouri State, Alaska-Fairbanks, Rhode Island, Troy and Weber State. If the Aggies win Friday, they will play the winner of the Southeast Missouri State and Drake game on Saturday. If they lose they play the loser of that game.
On Sunday Utah State could end up playing in-state rival Weber State, who will visit the Spectrum Nov. 25 for this season’s home opener.
-samabry@cc.usu.edu