After invigorating win, Aggies journey to Illinois St

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Utah State has to switch gears faster than Dale Earnhart Jr.

Coming off an exhilarating 72-61 win over Weber State in their season opener Friday night, the Aggies visit Illinois State on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Utah State practiced lightly Saturday in Logan before flying to Illinois, although coach Stew Morrill said the comeback victory over Weber State made the hectic schedule less imposing.

"It?s always easier to travel when you win," he explained. "A lot easier."

Utah State?s win over Weber was so invigorating, in fact, the Aggies probably could have flown to Illinois State without an airplane.

The Wildcats dominated the first half and built a 47-29 lead. The Aggies appeared so hopelessly beaten that Morrill didn?t talk about victory at halftime. He spoke only on playing better and proving to the fans at the Spectrum ? and to themselves ? they are a capable Division I team.

Utah State did much more.

The Aggies scored the first 8 points of the second half. They took their first lead when David Collette?s dunk made it 55-53 with 9:58 remaining and pulled away from there.

Utah State?s zone defense limited Weber State to 14 second-half points, including 4 in the final minute, when the outcome had been determined.

"We got on our heels, and they won the second half like we won the first half," Weber State coach Randy Rahe said. "... We learned a good lesson. Human nature is you?re up at halftime and you tend to be less aggressive and think everything is OK. We have a young team, and, like I said, we learned a valuable lesson."

For Utah State, Illinois State will be another difficult opponent.

Last season, the Redbirds finished 18-16 overall and 9-9 in the rugged Missouri Valley Conference.

Illinois State returns four starters from that team, including senior guard Daishon Knight, who was their leading scorer (13.2 ppg). Another top player is sophomore center Reggie Lynch, who averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots last season.

 

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A year ago, Bobby Hunter and most of his Illinois State teammates were clueless about Division I basketball heading into the season opener.

Playing a top-25 team on the road didn't make things easier, either.

The Redbirds were shell-shocked as Virginia Commonwealth raced to a 96-58 victory. But Hunter believes ISU will be ready this time for its season opener at 4 p.m. Sunday when Utah State comes into Redbird Arena.

"It's very different than last year. We have a more positive mindset and know what to expect," said Hunter, a senior guard and one of six returnees. "Last year we had a lot of new guys who did not know what to expect on the D-I level.

"This year the mindset is very different in a good way. I like where we're headed."

Utah State's season already has begun. The Aggies turned back Weber State, 72-61, on Friday night before leaving Saturday for ISU. Ironically, the Redbirds' next game is against Weber State next Friday in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.

While the Aggies had only a one-day break between games combined with a long travel day, they do own some advantages over ISU.

Utah State has three games under its belt, counting two exhibitions, while the Redbirds' only court action was a 76-67 exhibition victory over Division II Lewis on Monday.

Only one Utah State player, sophomore wing Jalen Moore, played much a year ago. Coach Stew Morrill will rely heavily on junior college transfers and redshirts.

ISU's only tape on the Aggies was one of their exhibitions.

"As far as individual scouting reports, it makes it quite a bit tougher," said ISU coach Dan Muller, beginning his third season. "You have to go in and play mostly your principles and not so much what they like to do because there's not a big enough sample of what their individual players are going to be doing. I know how that feels because last year we were the same way."

But Muller said Morrill, whom he called one of the best coaches in the country, has been doing a lot of similar things in his 17 seasons as Utah State's coach.

Plus, ISU played the Aggies two years ago in Logan in a Bracket Busters Game that is being returned Sunday.

Utah State rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat Weber State, holding the Wildcats to 14 points in the second half on 4-of-23 shooting.

"In the first half we couldn't guard them and we couldn't make a shot," said Morrill afterwards. "We just talked about playing better in the second half. We really didn't talk about winning. We just said we're not that bad and we can play better than that."

Muller would like to see ISU take better care of the ball. The Redbirds committed 17 turnovers against Lewis.

"We have enough good ballhandlers, we should not be a high turnover team," he said.

This will be the first collegiate game for six ISU newcomers. One of those, wing forward DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, paced the Redbirds with 16 points against Lewis.

Another Redbird newcomer, 6-8 forward Will Ransom, will play, according to Muller. Ransom was suspended for the exhibition for conduct detrimental to the team, but didn't miss any practice time.


Probable starters

(Scoring, rebounding averages)

UTAH STATE

F ? David Collette, 6-8, Fr. (22.0, 6.0); Jalen Moore, 6-7, So. (20.0, 8.0); G ? JoJo McGlaston, 6-5, So. (3.0, 3.0); Darius Perkins, 6-1, Jr. (7.0, 1.0); Chris Smith, 6-4, Jr. (7.0, 1.0).

ILLINOIS STATE

F ? Deontae Hawkins, 6-8, Fr. (didn't play in 2013-14); C ? Reggie Lynch, 6-10, So. (8.3, 4.8); G ? Daishon Knight, 6-1, Sr. (13.2, 4.6); Paris Lee, 5-11, So. (6.7, 2.0); Tony Wills, 6-3, So. (3.6, 2.8).