Notebook

One record down, one to go

Two points. With apologies to Wayne Estes, whose career was cut short by a tragic accident, Jaycee Carroll is now two measly points away from being the greatest scorer in the history of Utah State basketball. In the waning seconds of the game, Boise State was forced to foul immediately, and if Carroll had been able to receive an inbounds pass, the 92.9 percent free-throw shooter undoubtedly would have passed Grant. However, the Bronco defense denied Carroll on two consecutive inbounds plays, and Kris Clark knocked down the crucial free throws instead.

“That was my plan, to get real close and then let Kris have his night,” Carroll quipped after the game.

Although Carroll finished with his usual masterful stat line- 6-6 on free throws, 29 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals -he was shaky out of the gate, so much so that Morrill actually benched his star in favor of freshman Pooh Williams at one point.

“I took him out for a minute because I thought they had him flustered,” Morrill said, “but only a minute.”

Carroll quickly straightened his game out and played 39 minutes. Speaking on the case of nerves he appeared to have, Carroll said, “I started out, the first five times I touched the ball I turned it over. I don’t know what it was.”

In fact, Carroll only started out with four turnovers, but one was a particularly egregious case in which the normally level-headed guard tried to push the ball upcourt when four Boise State defenders were already back. He finally got on the board with a three-pointer at the 7:57 mark, and finished the first half with 10 points. In the second, Carroll really got going, firing from three-point range with no hesitation.

Morrill the best ever at Utah State

Morrill’s record after 10 years at USU stands at 226-80, and he broke E.L. Romney’s 67-year-old record in 77 fewer games than it took the legendary coach, whose tenure at USU lasted from 1920 to 1941. Morrill has been reticent to talk about the record with the media during the last few games, as he got closer and closer. After the game, the winningest coach in USU history speculated that this was because, “For 33 years I’ve coached a team sport and you don’t talk about me, you talk about we.” After an unprecedented 226 victories, it’s high time to talk about Morrill.

Scouting Idaho

Carroll breaking Greg Grant’s record against Idaho Saturday night is as close to a sure thing as there is in sports. But Carroll said he won’t be thinking about the USU record books when he takes the court: “I’ll think a lot about defense and the guy I’m guarding.”

The Vandals are 0-8 on the road this year with a 4-12 overall record after sustaining a 69-61 loss at Nevada Thursday night. They have lost 21 straight road games dating back to 2006-2007, and are 1-11 in the Spectrum. USU has won 21 of the last 24 against Idaho, including five straight. Despite all this, Morrill said Idaho is a much better team than last year, and pointed out that the Vandals have lost a lot of close games.

Idaho is averaging 65.3 points per game while allowing 69.8 on 45.9 percent shooting. They are led by forwards Jordan Brooks and Michael Crowell, who average 12.1 and 9.3 points per game respectively. Both Brooks and Crowell pull down better than five rebounds a game.

“The Gambler” in top form

Senior point guard Kris Clark plays the game of basketball with distinctive panache, threading passes to teammates with not just accuracy, but style to earn the nickname “The Gambler.” Against Boise State, The Gambler achieved something he had never done before in an Aggie uniform, even while he was leading the WAC in assist-turnover ratio last year, in putting up 10 assists against just two turnovers.

“I’ve got to do my job, and do it to my best ability,” Clark said. Although Clark had an off night shooting the ball with a 1-8 performance, he carved up the Boise defense all night and helped seal the win going 3-of-4 shooting free throws in the final 20 seconds.

“I had a lot of open shots, unfortunately for me they didn’t fall,” Clark said, “but I was able to knock down those free throws there at the end.”

Boise shoots well, but misery in the Spectrum continues nonetheless

Typically in basketball, when the opposing team shoots 46.2 percent it’s a bad sign. In the case of Boise State, which came into the game leading the nation in shooting at 52.3 percent, it was a pretty good defensive performance. The Bronco’s Matt Nelson was ranked second in the nation, shooting a Nate-Harris-esque 67.5 percent, and was held to 55 percent by USU’s interior trio of Tai Wesley, Gary Wilkinson and Stephen DuCharme.

“You’re in trouble if you double the post and you’re in trouble if you don’t double the post,” Morrill said of the quandary Boise presents. “They have a lot of weapons.”

The most effective of those weapons was senior guard Matt Bauscher, who poured in 24 points while shooting 6-11 from behind the arc. Bauscher wasn’t even the only Bronco to make better than half of his three-point attempts; senior forward Tyler Tiedeman was 4-of-7 on threes.

Despite Boise’s impressive offensive production, the Aggies were able to keep the Broncs winless in 14 tries in the Spectrum. Overall, USU now has a 20-6 all-time record against Boise, including 13 of the last 16. Morrill is now 10-2 against Boise while at USU. The win snapped a six-game Bronco road winning streak.

Morrill promises to choke Wesley

Tai Wesley continues to show flashes of the brilliance that made him Mr. Basketball in Utah during his senior year at Provo High. Wesley scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and had a highlight-reel type block on Boise’s Matt Nelson early in the second half, which he followed up by staring Nelson down in an intimidating fashion. Unfortunately, foul trouble limited the 6-foot-6 power forward again. When Wesley and Nelson were called for simultaneous technical fouls midway through the second half while jogging back upcourt following a tip-in basket by Boise’s Reggie Larry, it was Wesley’s third. Wesley fouled out with just over three minutes to go and was limited to 24 minutes, the least of all the Aggie starters. Morrill joked that if Wesley continues to get in foul trouble in future games, he is going to choke his star freshman.

But with little practice time in between games, how will they improve?

“We’ve got so many games coming up and so little time to get better, I guess we’re going to have to get better playing games,” Morrill said.

They will have another opportunity at 7:05 Saturday night in the Spectrum.

-graham@aggiemail.usu.edu