OCR Text |
Show flr fl Iflli i 11 i Scrappy Bulldogs fade away TouchBzse Agg/eSchedules Men's Basketball MONDAY MARCH 3 USU vs. Fresno State, 7 p.m. THURSDAY MARCH 6 USU @ Boise State, 7 p.m. Gymnastics FRIDAY FEB. 29 USU vs. Denver, 6:30 p.m. Women's Tennis SATURDAY MARCH 1 Agsget another 20-win season USU vs. Nevada, 10:30 a.m. TUESDAY MARCH 4 USU vs. Montana Slate, 10 a.m. seasons. "But (USU assistant) coach By SAMMY HISLOP (Don Verlin) said, That's OK, let's sports editor just keep doing it.' You never want to take for granted winning 20." Three Aggies scored in double The Louisiana Tech men's basfigures—including a 30-point perketball team was certainly scrappy formance from All-American senior and physical Thursday night in the ^mm^^^^^ guard Jaycee Carroll. Spectrum. ^ _ M . Fourteen of Unfortunately, the Carroll's points came Western Athletic in the final six minConference's cellar utes of the game. dwellers—owners of only four victories this In that time span, LA. TECH 59 season—were only the Evanston, Wyo., able to hang with Utah native collected 14 State for a half. points. Three of those came on a 3pointer (Carroll's only such shot of The Aggies used a 15-4 second-half the game. He was l-of-6 from beyond run to pull away from the visiting the arc). All other 11 points came off Bulldogs (4-22,1-12 in WAC) and of simple layups and free throws. secure an 86-59 victor)'. "1 just chipped away and got some The win gives the Aggies (20-9,9-4 shots in the lane which really opened in WAC) their ninth-consecutive 20things up," Carroll said. win season. MorriU said the Aggies were able "I said to my assistants, 'The problem is that it's kind of become expected," USU head coach Stew \M See SCRAPPY, page 11 Morrill said of consistent 20-win Men's Tennis FRIDAY FEB. 29 USU vs.Weber State @ Las Vegas SATURDAY MARCH 1 USU @ UNLV, 1 p.m. TUESDAY MARCH 4 GameOver USU vs. Montana State, 1 p.m. Hockey USU 86 FRIDAY FEB. 29 USU vs. U of U, 8 p.m. SATURDAY MARCH 1 USU @ U of U Women's Basketball THURSDAY MARCH 6 USU vs. Boise State, 7 p.m. Indoor Track and Field UTAH STATE SENIOR GUARD JAYCEE CARROLL, LEFT, drives against a FEB. 28-MARCH 1 Louisiana Tech defender Thursday night. Carroll scored 30 points and pulled down five rebounds as the Aggies won, 86-59. The win gives the Aggies their ninth-consecutive 20-win season. PATRICK ODEN photo USU @ WAC championships '•) 4 h h o \ \ \ \ I •) \ I :V * * « fe% to Notebook By G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY. staff writer Carroll's 3-point streak barely survives 'Dog Defense •. JAKOB ASP L U N D , FAR LEFT, Oscar Ericcson, middle, and Jonas Tyden, far right, pose in front of a Swedish flag. The three are natives of Stockholm, Sweden. They are also all members of the USU men's tennis team. JACKSON OLSEN photo illustration USU's Swedish tennis trio By JACKSON OLSEN staff writer Jonas Tyden had never been to America before arriving in the Salt Lake City International Airport in the fall of 2004. Alone, without housing and overwhelmed by a culture and society that seemed as foreign as fried Twinkies, he began his collegiate tennis career at USU. "I didn't know where I was going," Tyden said, recalling his infancy on American soil. "When I got here I didn't know anybody. I was completely lost." Tyden managed to bunk up with a friend for his first few days in Logan before finding his own place. But no matter how much he decorated or daydreamed, he said his bedroom, apartment and new home town were nothing like back in Stockholm, Sweden. In more ways than one, home was thousands of miles away. So why USU of all places in the world? "My coach back in Sweden played in this region," Tyden said. "He played against the Aggies many times as a player and a coach. He told me about Logan and Cache Valley and encouraged me to come here." Tyden said he locked up an athletic scholarship as his prep school days came to an end. It wasn't long after that when he arrived on the USU campus. Tyden's early career as an Aggie wasn't exactly monumental. As a freshman and sophomore, he faced seasoned opponents, some of which were ranked at the top of the region. Despite the odds, Tyden said he was able to notch wins and contribute to the team's success in both singles and doubles. Now in his senior year, Tyden has won numerous matches for the Aggies, picking up team and WAC honors on the way. But he's done more for the program than just play good tennis. He's been a busy recruiter. H See SWEDES page 10 The unthinkable almost happened against Louisiana Tech: no, USU was never really in any danger of losing a game at home. But until Jaycee Carroll ripped a 3-pointer with 2:26 remaining in-.''" the game, the senior's 50-game streak with aHeast one trey was on life support. Carroll finished the game l-of-6 on three point shooting. As a team, USU was 2-10 shootingTfom behind the arc, with Tyler Newbold providing the othermade trey in garbage time. Just this week, Carroll had taken over the number one 3-point shooting percentage in the NCAA with a gaudy 51.4. Predictably, the ink on the release from USU Athletic Media Relations had barely dried before the greatest scorer in USU history turned in an uncharacteristically poor shooting night, Carroll led all scorers with 30 points despite his struggles to hit from deep. "It was quiet. There was nothing just back-toback-to-back, no 3-pointers that got people going, but just chipped away in the lane and got some layups which really opened things up," Carroll said. Carroll is trailed closely in the national 3-point accuracy race by Josh Mayo of Illinois-Chicago, who is shooting 50.6 percent, and Tyler Tiedeman ofWAC rival Boise State, who shoots 50 percent. _ . Tiedeman was 2-of-4 shooting threes againstSan Jose State Thursday night. The NCAA calculates statistics once a week, so Carroll can still hang onto his top spot'With a good performance against FresnaState. Williams shines in limited minutes Freshman guard/forward Pooh Williams played an effective 15 minutes for USU, scoring six points on 3-of-3 shooting with two assists, one steal and zero turnovers. Williams showed the crowd his great athleticism and body control on a layup in the second half; he twisted his body and adjusted his shot in midair to confound two Bulldog defenders. Williams' has taken over as USU's primary backup to Tyler Newbold at the three spot, elbowing onetime starter DeUndrae Spraggins aside. Over the last 10 games, Williams is averaging 8.9 minutes per game while Spraggins has been getting just three minute per game in the same period. Di See NOTEBOOK, page 11 T E A M M A T E S LOOK O N AS JAYCEE CARROLL examines a cut he received late in the game Thursday night in the Spectrum against the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. The Aggies won the game, 86-59. Their record is now 20-9 overall and 9-4 in Western Athletic Conference action. The Aggies' final home game is Monday at 7 p.m. against Fresno State. CAMERON PETERSON photo Men's Rugby SATURDAY MARCH 1 USU @ Idaho State, 1 p.m. Aggies left out of WAC football TV BY USU ATHLETICS The Western Athletic Conference today announced a 10-game football television schedule for 2008. Games will be shown on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC during the season. The schedule kicks off with Louisiana Tech hosting Mississippi State on Saturday, Aug. 30. The following two Saturdays feature two more non-conference matchups as Nevada hosts Texas Tech on Sept. 6 and Wisconsin travels to Fresno State on Sept. 13. The times and network carrying the first three games of the schedule will be announced at a later date. The schedule resumes with six conference matchups beginning Wednesday, Oct. 1, when ESPN will televise the Louisiana TechBoise State game. Then, in mid-October, the WAC will be featured on five of the next seven Fridays. The first will be a showdown between the past two WAC champions as Boise State will host Hawai'i on Oct. 17 at 6:00 p.m. MT on ESPN. "With some intriguing non-conference matchups and what could be several key conference games, we are extremely pleased with our ESPN schedule for the 2008 season," said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson. "To be coming off two consecutive impressive seasons capped by BCS bowl games, we once again are thrilled to be providing our fans across the nation the opportunity to view some of the most exciting football in the country." |