Men’s Basketball Preview
The Aggies host Occidental College at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Monday, Nov. 6, at 7:05 p.m. for their final preseason exhibition game. Occidental College, located near downtown Los Angeles, Calif., is a highly regarded Division-III team that is ranked 23rd in the country coming into the season.
The Aggies faced the Tigers in the preseason last year and were able to cruise to a 66-38 victory, but the team isn’t expecting an easy game this time.
Although Occidental College is a Division-III team, they are expected to give the Aggies problems, particularly by creating mismatches on the offensive end.
“Occidental has a very, very good program,” assistant coach Tim Duryea said. “Division-III teams can be a challenge to defend because a lot of their players are positionless. A lot of times they’ll play small ball with four guards on the floor at one time with a post guy that sometimes is more like a small forward.”
This type of offense allows the Tigers to space the floor and pull the Aggie big men away from the basket where they will have to guard smaller and quicker players they aren’t accustomed to defending. The Tigers, like many Division-III teams, shoot the ball extremely well from practically everywhere on the court.
“They shoot a lot of 3’s, so we’ll have to guard the 3-point line all the way to the basket and really be on our game. Coach Newhall’s teams always shoot the ball very efficiently,” Duryea said.
The biggest threat to the Aggies will be 6-foot7 240-pound forward Sam Betty, a preseason first-team all-American. Last year Betty averaged 20 points per game, and many predict he will be the Division-III player of the year this season.
“There is absolutely no question that Sam Betty will be the key match-up on the floor no matter who is guarding him,” Duryea said. “He is one of the best players in the country. Everything they do is around him and through him. We have to stop him from the basket out.”
The Aggies lost many key players from last year’s 23-9 team and now must incorporate newcomers into the system as quickly as possible. “We lost guys that had been in the system for three or four years and we’re replacing them with kids that have never played Division-I basketball,” Duryea said. “We have so many new players so we have got to establish some roles.”
A major challenge will be filling the shoes of first-team all-WAC selection Nate Harris and Cass Matheus, who both were dominant forces in the low post last season. Harris, in particular, regularly attacked the basket with a great deal of confidence and efficiency. The Aggies will look to do the same early and often against the Tigers.
“We have got to put some post players in the game that will catch the ball down low and have some confidence to go score one-on-one. If we have one-on-one coverage in the post, we want to score the ball,” Duryea said. “Hopefully that’s the biggest improvement you’ll see from Game 1 to Game 2 in our exhibition season.”
The point guard position is another area of focus. The Aggies lost all experience at the point with the departures of David Pak and Chris Huber. Newcomers Mikel Watson and Kris Clark will be entrusted with running the show this season. Learning the system as quickly as possible will be crucial.
“In our system, it all starts with the point guard. If the point guard knows how to run the system, then everything else flows better. Watson and Clark are really learning on the fly, so the more minutes they can log and the quicker they become comfortable with the system, the quicker everything else will fall into place,” Duryea said.
The game against Occidental College will provide an excellent opportunity for the Aggies to gain more experience in these areas and work out as many kinks as possible before the season begins on Nov. 10 at Northwestern State.