{"id":22096230,"date":"2018-11-16T12:08:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T19:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usustatesman.com\/?p=22096230"},"modified":"2018-11-16T12:08:25","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T19:08:25","slug":"aggies-to-face-in-state-rival-uvu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/aggies-to-face-in-state-rival-uvu\/","title":{"rendered":"Aggies To Face In-State Rival UVU"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utah State looks to continue their perfect season and capture a fourth win, against Utah Valley University to make coach Craig Smith only the seventh coach in USU history to start his career 4-0. The game will take place at 7:00 Friday, Nov. 16th in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USU was dominant in all three of their wins to open the season with the smallest margin of victory being 23 points against Hartford. Thus far, the Aggies have scored a prolific average of 98.3 PPG. UVU may have the best defense which USU has seen yet, however, and may perhaps be the best overall team the Aggies have faced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey\u2019re a good team,\u201d Utah State head coach Craig Smith said. \u201cThey have everything. They can score inside. They have guys that can create off the bounce that can really, really shoot it. Then they&#8217;re physical and good defensively. Certainly, it will be our stiffest test.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UVU is 1-2 on the season, losing games to BYU and Saint Mary\u2019s, two good teams from the WCC which Coach Smith believes could be dancing come March.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAt BYU, it&#8217;s a one-point game with five-and-a-half minutes to go,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;That thing was a slugfest. We know how difficult it is to win at the Marriott Center, especially against a very good BYU team. The Saint Mary&#8217;s game, obviously, kind of just got away from them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith also keyed in on UVU\u2019s duo of cousins, Connor and Jake Toolson, two all-league players in the WAC from last season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThose guys are ultra-competitive, they&#8217;re really heady, really smart and just really know how to play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An area where UVU may struggle is on the glass where USU has dominated this season, out-rebounding each of their opponents by double-digits with a season average of 49.3 per game, outpacing UVU\u2019s average of 38.3 by over 10 boards<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USU also has the statistical advantage in PPG, assists and blocks, and leads UVU across the board in shooting averages. The Aggies have plenty of reasons to be confident coming into this game at home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">History is also on USU\u2019s side, as they have a perfect all-time record against UVU: 12-0 overall and 6-0 at home. The in-state rivalry may have an effect on the game, though, as rivalries tend to bring out the best in both teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAlmost all the time when you see in-state games, they almost always come down to the wire.\u201d Says says Smith. \u201cRegardless of what team is better or what team is worse, for some reason you&#8217;ve seen it a million times where those in-state players really seem to step up because there is that level of pride\u2026 That&#8217;s just how those type of things go, it seems like.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The game will be the last in a three game home stand for the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MGM Resorts Main Event tournament and one which both teams will be looking forward to. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019ll be a great test for us,\u201d Smith said, \u201cand we\u2019re looking forward to it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Utah State looks to continue their perfect season and capture a fourth win, against Utah Valley University to make coach&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877944,"featured_media":22095924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[7311,6223,7310,674,1767],"class_list":["post-22096230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-m-bball","category-sports","tag-conner-toolson","tag-craig-smith","tag-jake-toolson","tag-usu-basketball","tag-utah-valley-university"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - 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