November 20, 2002 Athletics
Story
Utah
State Hoopsters Finish Exhibition 2-0,
Regular Season Starts Saturday
From the Utah
Statesman (11/18/02)
Utah State basketball Head Coach Stew Morrill enjoys playing
Global Sports.
Not because of its dismal 1-9 record (the only win coming against
Southern Utah), or its lack of so-called "big name"
players. Morrill enjoys competing against the Global Sports
All-stars because it wants to help collegiate programs improve.
"The good thing about [Global Sports] is they will ask
you what you want them to do, before the game and at halftime,"
Morrill said following Utah State's 83-68 victory Friday. "You
don't get a lot of opponents that will do that. They do it because
they want to keep coming back every year. I like playing them
for that reason."
Morrill said the main thing he asked Global Sports Head Coach
Clay Moser to throw at USU was zone defense. Moser did and it
was the first time the Aggies had seen it in a game situation.
They struggled.
In fact, Moser asked Morrill at halftime if Global Sports was
playing enough zone. The truth — yes, Utah State wasn't
dealing with it well.
 There
were times when the Aggies looked good, showing improvement
since their last exhibition game Nov. 2 against EA Sports.
Global Sports, on the other hand, had few, if any, bright spots
during the game. The team was tired, playing its fourth game
in as many nights.
Former UTEP star George Banks led Global Sports with 18 points.
Forward Desmond Penigar led the USU charge with 20 points and
six rebounds on 6-of-14 shooting. Not bad for someone who spent
most of the last two weeks watching practice from the bench.
Penigar missed practice between exhibition games because of
tendonitis in his right knee.
"We've got to get him back in shape," Morrill said.
"You wouldn't think a week off would do that much to you,
but he was huffing and puffing in practice. He's a big, strong
kid carrying around a lot of weight and strength."
Penigar said, "After I took the week off, it was kind
of hard coming back to practice. It was worth it because if
you've got tendonitis you know how bad it hurts. You've got
to take a couple of days off. When I took those days off it
felt good."
Spencer Nelson, another Aggie who has spent the last while
battling knee problems, also chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds
off 4-of-4 shooting in 22 minutes of play. Nelson earned most
of his points from the charity stripe though, going 6 for 7.
Nelson just had the garbage man mentality Friday, putting back
several missed buckets and outhustling everyone to the ball.
Utah State opened the game with a 6-0 lead and never looked
back, coming away with a 41-29 lead at the break.
USU found itself in a slump late in the second half until Cardell
Butler livened things up with a dunk and then an alley-oop play
seconds later, putting the Aggies up 81-59.
Butler finished the game with six points and five rebounds.
"I asked Cardell where he'd been after [that]," Morrill
said. "He's explosive and he's learning. He's fun to coach
because he's taking it all in."
Following Butler's plays with nearly five minutes left, USU
did not score again until 19 seconds remaining in the game off
a layup by Nate Harris.
Global Sports pulled down more boards than USU (34-32) but
the Aggies were able to cut down their turnovers to seven. Global
Sports recorded 16.
"We have been turning the ball over a lot in scrimmages
and practices this past week," Nelson said. "We only
had seven turnovers so that says a lot about our point guards
and shooting guards."
The Aggies will begin their regular season Saturday as they
travel to Illinois. The first home game will be Nov. 26 before
USU hits the road for a lengthy trip, including a tournament
in Hawaii.
Morrill said his team is ready to begin the season and stop
beating up on one another.
"We only have one home game in the next month which is
really weird," Morrill said. "All the years I have
been coaching I've never been in this situation. I always open
at home, except for last year. I never, ever have had this many
road games. We just couldn't get anybody to come here."
The reason? Possibly USU's 57-5 record at home over the last
four years. Or even more likely, the hour and one-half long
commute from Salt Lake International Airport to Logan.
Morrill isn't complaining though. He knows that is just part
of the battle with scheduling.
AGGIE NOTES:
In an effort to promote new school traditions at basketball
games, the Utah State Athletics Department and ASUSU passed
out thousands of blue flyers encouraging fans to adopt the new
ideas.
Such things included chanting "U" "S" "U"
following player introductions, clapping until the opponent
scores a basket, making noise during free throws and saying
"swoosh," and actually singing the words to the "Aggie
Fight Song" and the "Scotsman."
By Julie Ann Grosshans; jaug@cc.usu.edu
Photos by John Zsiray & Ryan Talbot
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