Aggies, Vandals square off in second round of CIT
When the Aggies take the court tonight at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, they will be facing a very familiar foe in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
It?s the battle of the Western Athletic Conference. The Utah State men?s basketball team hosts Idaho with a berth to the CIT quarterfinals on the line.
?It?s kind of weird to be playing a league opponent in a postseason event,? USU head coach Stew Morrill said. ?That happens pretty rarely, but it does happen. We?ve got two teams who are awfully familiar with each other, obviously.?
Idaho head coach Don Verlin spent 15 years as an assistant with Morrill ? 10 of those seasons in Logan. The Vandals (19-13) run many similar plays the Aggies (18-15) do.
?We know them really well, especially since they run the same system,? USU forward Morgan Grim said of the Vandals. ?... It?s good, but at the same time they know you pretty well, so that?s the hard part about it. You just got to execute the plays and most important play defense. It?s going to be hard on offense since they know what we are doing.?
During the WAC season, they split, each winning on their home court. Idaho rallied at the end of the game in Moscow, Idaho, to notch a 57-54 win. USU tasted victory on Senior Night at the Spectrum, 67-50, after trailing by seven at halftime.
The Vandals and Aggies were upset in the first round of the WAC Tournament. Idaho was seeded third and lost to Hawaii, 72-70, while USU was seeded fourth and dropped a game to Louisiana Tech by the same score, 72-70.
The early exits led the Vandals and Aggies to the CIT.
?We are in the same situation as the WAC Tournament,? Grim said. ?We are playing against teams we can beat, we know we can beat. We just need to step up and do it.?
Grim did his part on Wednesday in a first-round 75-69 win against CSU Bakersfield. He was 6 of 6 from the field and 3 of 3 from the foul line for 15 points. The senior also grabbed six rebounds, blocked three shots and had two assists.
Kyisean Reed also had a big game, making all five of his field goal attempts, finishing with 16 points and a game-best eight rebounds.
?Me and Kyisean played good after not playing very good (at the WAC Tournament, going a combined 2 for 8),? Grim said. ?It was good to get that taste out of our mouths and not end the season on that note.?
Morrill has noticed a better and more consistent effort from Reed of late in practice. The junior has also been more physical, which is must for Morrill players.
?I?ve been urging him (Reed) all year long to be more consistent in his effort and physicality, and to his credit he has tried to do that the last three weeks or so,? Morrill said. ?... I think he felt badly about his performance in the WAC Tournament and responded against CSU Bakersfield, and that was good. We obviously could use more of that.?
In the last meeting with Idaho, Aggie guard Preston Medlin scored a career-best 32 points on 11 of 13 shooting. Medlin also led the Aggies against the Roadrunners Wednesday with 24 points.
?I think they?ll give us lots of different looks, including some junk defenses to focus in a little bit on Preston Medlin, who had a big game against them last time,? Morrill said of the Vandals. ?It doesn?t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are going to play us right now, he (Medlin) is a big concern. Everybody that?s played us the last month or so has obviously focused on him.?
It will be key for other Aggies to step forward and take up part of the scoring load.
The Vandals come to town after a home win over UC Santa Barbara, 86-83. Three Idaho players had at least 19 points.
Idaho has beat every team in the WAC at least once, matching only Nevada in accomplishing that feat this season. The Vandals won seven of their last eight regular season games, with their only loss coming at USU. The 19 wins this year are the most since the 1992-93 team won 24.
?Idaho is playing well right now,? Morrill said. ?Just watching their game vs. UC Santa Barbara, boy they shot it and really played well, scored a bunch of points. We?ve got to get them slowed down to have an opportunity to win.
?... They?re a good shooting team, so we need to guard the 3-point line, first and foremost in transition, but also in the half-court. When they?ve won on the road, they?ve made a bunch of three?s, so that?s something that jumps out at you right away.?
The Aggies want to keep playing and are happy to be home.
?We are excited to keep playing, extend our season a little bit and try to get to 20 wins,? Grim said. ?... It?s always fun playing in the Spectrum, you can?t beat that. Hopefully some people will come back early from Spring Break.?
While Morrill is not excited to play Idaho again, he is not complaining about being able to still play.
?Beggars can?t be choosers,? Morrill said. ?We are in postseason play and we?re getting two home games. We should feel really fortunate about that. If you take it a step further, I would rather not play one of my former assistants. ... But again, getting two home games softened the blow because we could have been getting on a plane today and going wherever, so that softens the blow of having to play a former assistant.?
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When the Aggies take the court tonight at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, they will be facing a very familiar foe in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
It?s the battle of the Western Athletic Conference. The Utah State men?s basketball team hosts Idaho with a berth to the CIT quarterfinals on the line.
?It?s kind of weird to be playing a league opponent in a postseason event,? USU head coach Stew Morrill said. ?That happens pretty rarely, but it does happen. We?ve got two teams who are awfully familiar with each other, obviously.?
Idaho head coach Don Verlin spent 15 years as an assistant with Morrill ? 10 of those seasons in Logan. The Vandals (19-13) run many similar plays the Aggies (18-15) do.
?We know them really well, especially since they run the same system,? USU forward Morgan Grim said of the Vandals. ?... It?s good, but at the same time they know you pretty well, so that?s the hard part about it. You just got to execute the plays and most important play defense. It?s going to be hard on offense since they know what we are doing.?
During the WAC season, they split, each winning on their home court. Idaho rallied at the end of the game in Moscow, Idaho, to notch a 57-54 win. USU tasted victory on Senior Night at the Spectrum, 67-50, after trailing by seven at halftime.
The Vandals and Aggies were upset in the first round of the WAC Tournament. Idaho was seeded third and lost to Hawaii, 72-70, while USU was seeded fourth and dropped a game to Louisiana Tech by the same score, 72-70.
The early exits led the Vandals and Aggies to the CIT.
?We are in the same situation as the WAC Tournament,? Grim said. ?We are playing against teams we can beat, we know we can beat. We just need to step up and do it.?
Grim did his part on Wednesday in a first-round 75-69 win against CSU Bakersfield. He was 6 of 6 from the field and 3 of 3 from the foul line for 15 points. The senior also grabbed six rebounds, blocked three shots and had two assists.
Kyisean Reed also had a big game, making all five of his field goal attempts, finishing with 16 points and a game-best eight rebounds.
?Me and Kyisean played good after not playing very good (at the WAC Tournament, going a combined 2 for 8),? Grim said. ?It was good to get that taste out of our mouths and not end the season on that note.?
Morrill has noticed a better and more consistent effort from Reed of late in practice. The junior has also been more physical, which is must for Morrill players.
?I?ve been urging him (Reed) all year long to be more consistent in his effort and physicality, and to his credit he has tried to do that the last three weeks or so,? Morrill said. ?... I think he felt badly about his performance in the WAC Tournament and responded against CSU Bakersfield, and that was good. We obviously could use more of that.?
In the last meeting with Idaho, Aggie guard Preston Medlin scored a career-best 32 points on 11 of 13 shooting. Medlin also led the Aggies against the Roadrunners Wednesday with 24 points.
?I think they?ll give us lots of different looks, including some junk defenses to focus in a little bit on Preston Medlin, who had a big game against them last time,? Morrill said of the Vandals. ?It doesn?t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are going to play us right now, he (Medlin) is a big concern. Everybody that?s played us the last month or so has obviously focused on him.?
It will be key for other Aggies to step forward and take up part of the scoring load.
The Vandals come to town after a home win over UC Santa Barbara, 86-83. Three Idaho players had at least 19 points.
Idaho has beat every team in the WAC at least once, matching only Nevada in accomplishing that feat this season. The Vandals won seven of their last eight regular season games, with their only loss coming at USU. The 19 wins this year are the most since the 1992-93 team won 24.
?Idaho is playing well right now,? Morrill said. ?Just watching their game vs. UC Santa Barbara, boy they shot it and really played well, scored a bunch of points. We?ve got to get them slowed down to have an opportunity to win.
?... They?re a good shooting team, so we need to guard the 3-point line, first and foremost in transition, but also in the half-court. When they?ve won on the road, they?ve made a bunch of three?s, so that?s something that jumps out at you right away.?
The Aggies want to keep playing and are happy to be home.
?We are excited to keep playing, extend our season a little bit and try to get to 20 wins,? Grim said. ?... It?s always fun playing in the Spectrum, you can?t beat that. Hopefully some people will come back early from Spring Break.?
While Morrill is not excited to play Idaho again, he is not complaining about being able to still play.
?Beggars can?t be choosers,? Morrill said. ?We are in postseason play and we?re getting two home games. We should feel really fortunate about that. If you take it a step further, I would rather not play one of my former assistants. ... But again, getting two home games softened the blow because we could have been getting on a plane today and going wherever, so that softens the blow of having to play a former assistant.?
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