November 26, 2002 Athletics
Story
Aggie
Basketball Starts Off On Right Foot
From the Utah Statesman
(11/25/02)
 It
would be easy to say the Utah State men's basketball team opened
its 2002-03 regular season Saturday at Illinois State in Normal,
Ill.
That would only be half of the story, though.
Senior guard Ronnie Ross did not make the trip because of a
two-day suspension for an undisclosed "violation of team
rules."
Without Ross in the lineup, Aggie newcomer Greg Patton received
the nod.
Another new face in the starting five was Spencer Nelson, who
came in for forward Desmond Penigar. Penigar did not start because
Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill wanted to send a little reminder
to the forward of exactly what kind of senior leadership the
team needed.
"He understood the reason I didn't start him," Morrill
said in a radio interview following the game. "He really
wants to do the things to help us [as a team] do better and
be a better all-around player.
Nate Harris was limited to two minutes because of a sprained
ankle he sustained in practice Friday.
The changes didn't affect Utah State as it came away with a
68-53 win at Redbird Arena.
The win moved the Aggies to 1-0 on the season and 5-0 in season
openers under Morrill.
Penigar sparked USU off the bench, scoring 22 points and pulling
down six rebounds while Mark Brown recorded 19 points in his
Division I-A debut.
"Throughout the exhibition games I thought I was taking
really good shots, they just weren't falling," Brown said.
"It felt good to put some points up there and help my team
out.
Morrill said, "He just proved that he has great potential
to be an awfully good player at this level."
Illinois State was led by sophomore Trey Guidry who recorded
a half-dozen treys, finishing with 20 points. Sophomore point
guard Vince Greene added 10 points.
Redbird leading scorer from last season, Baboucarr Bojang,
finished two points, committing three fouls and two turnovers
in 29 minutes of action.
The Aggies will play their first home game of the season Tuesday
as they welcome Whitman College to the Spectrum.
The Missionaries, Division III, are looking to rebuild after
losing three of their top seniors last season.
Whitman Head Coach Skip Molitor contributed most of the team's
success a year ago to Ben Fuller, Rob Bell and Kevin Justice,
all of who finished their collegiate careers.
"We're going to miss those three, but we've still got
a solid nucleus of returning veterans and a very good recruiting
class," Molitor said in the season preview on the team's
Web site. "This is very likely going to be one of the strongest
teams Whitman has had in quite awhile."
The matchup has special meaning for Morrill. Molitor was Morrill's
best man at his wedding, they were college roommates and the
Whitman coach was also an assistant under the USU coach.
Morrill doesn't necessarily focus of beating Whitman though,
he has other goals.
"My dream is to see the Spectrum seats all in blue,"
he said. "I hope [fans] come out and support [the Aggies]
-- it doesn't matter who we play.
"Let's dare to dream and see if we can get it to happen,"
he said.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The Aggies will head to Hawaii over Thanksgiving Break to participate
in the 2002 Hilo Shootout in Hilo.
USU will face Vermont on Friday, Drake on Saturday and tournament-host
Hawaii-Hilo on Sunday.
By Julie Ann Grosshans; juag@cc.usu.edu
Photo by John Zsiray
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