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Show • StatesmanSports Page 10 Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 Basketball scrimmage shows mediocre defense BY TYLER HUSKINSON assistant sports editor Aggie fans got their first look at the Utah State men's basketball team during the Blue and White scrimmage Wednesday night. While it's apparent head coach Stew Morrill may have his most inexperienced group since he took over at USU, it is more visible to both Morrill and the veteran players what the team needs to do to be ready for the season kickoff on Nov. 11 when the Aggies host Brigham Young University. "We've got a long ways to go," senior forward Brady Jardine said. "It's apparent and I think that's what everyone is going to expect a little bit. You lose six guys that played a lot of minutes and you have 10 guys that come in." "We've had 10 practices, but we've got a lot of work to do defensively, offensively. I think we've got to improve on every aspect of the game and we've got to improve quick SOPHOMORE POINT GUARD E.J. FARRIS dribbles the ball in the Blue and White basketball scrimmage Wednesday night. Photo courtesy Tim Olsen, cachesportsmedia.com October 2'8th-4 Chuck a because we've got some tough games coming up." The Wednesday night scrimmage was a little ragged at times and both squads struggled to make shots. "I don't know if it was a little bit of nerves or whatever," Jardine said. "The blue team couldn't make a lot of open shots and that'll happen every once in a while, but we need to do better with rebounding and things. We just need to go out and play and that will come." Many possessions from both squads resulted in lastsecond shots, but Jardine said those shots were not forced because of good defense from either team. "I wouldn't say we were playing great defense tonight," Jardine said. "We played OK defense. A lot of the end of shot clock shots was because our offense is still a little choppy. We don't have our screens as good as they need to be. We aren't in the places we need to be. We just need to have a little bit more practice to understand our plays and understand the timing of things and that we have to run our plays hard." There were some positives in the scrimmage however, S<Sturday tollier 29th 'Woueresi VolreybaM v.IMsiana Teeh 7 p.m. Spectrum 3 Gloria Bell Field Sunday 9 October Women's Soccer v. Fresno State • 1 p.m. Chuck a Gloria Bell Field Men's Basketball v. UC San Diego 7 p.m. Spectrum eh, especially from players who may be called upon to play minutes and make plays. Freshman forward Ben Clifford, who redshirted last season, scored a team-high eight points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field. "There were some encouraging things," Morrill said. "Ben Clifford played as well as he's played or practiced." Jardine, senior point guard Brockeith Pane and freshman guard Adam Thoseby all scored six points apiece in the scrimmage. At the end of last season, the Aggies lost six seniors from their roster. Those seniors were 68-1 in the friendly confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and notched a 30-4 record last year. Morrill knows that things may be a little more difficult at times for this year's squad. "We're going to have to hang in," Morrill said. "Last year's team went through no tough times. Let's be honest, where you are 30-4, you're not having lots of tough times. We're hopefully going to have some ups, but certainly some lows and we're going to see how we respond. They've got to keep their heads up because we're just going to coach them. We're going to try and make them do things the way they need to do them to have a chance." Morrill has already taken great efforts to give all the new players a chance to learn the system and improve. Morrill often talks about the importance of consistent practice and this season's practice sessions are a bit lengthier for the team. "I've never practiced this long since a long time ago," Morrill said. "I never went this long, but we've got so many guys. Last year's guys would get through the same amount of stuff in two hours and twenty minutes, but it takes us three hours and fifteen minutes. There's time where we've practiced pretty good, but we're not consistent yet. They're good kids, so that always gives you a chance. I think they'll figure it out." Despite the growing pains, the Aggies are excited to play against someone other than themselves. "It'll be nice to play someone else who doesn't know all of our offense," Jardine said. "It'll be fun to have someone guarding you who doesn't know exactly what you like to do every time and can let you do the things you've been working on. We're looking forward to a break from playing against ourselves and seeing where we are at. That exhibition game will give us a better idea of where we are as a team and the major areas that we need to improve on." There are heavy expectations on the program which has a rich tradition of winning over the past decade, but with all the unknowns, Morrill hopes fans along with himself will exercise some patience. "Anybody who picked us to win the league is nuts," Morrill said. "All they had to do was watch that scrimmage. That was insane to me. I won't put too much stock in that. We're just going to be as good as we can and get better. We'll just do the best we can and try to get better. It's all we can do and hope the fans have patience for it and hope I do too." - ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu SENIOR POINT GUARD BROCKEITH PANE shoots over senior teammate Brady Jardine.The two are the only returning seniors on the Aggie basketball team. 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Ford, Lincoln & Nissan QuickLane at Wilson Motor Superstore 328 North Main St., Logan 1140 North Main St., Logan 435-753-2950 435-752-7356 Take a look at Aggie football in numbers with a coupie bonuses thrown in. Zero: Times Show me a Scotsman won 31-21 in a game USU was favored by 3.5 points, Oct. 15. The next highest margin was 7 to Louisiana Tech last week. 11: Number of games on the schedule that looked to be winnable after the Auburn game. 12: Number of games on the schedule that looked to be winnable with 3:38 to go in the Utah State has Auburn game. 13: Bringer of bad luck. Representative of all trailed opponents going into the fourth guarter. The Aggies have held the lead in the fourth things related to ancient burial grounds hinderquarter of every game this season. ing Utah State. Just because head coach Gary 1: Number of interceptions quarterback Andersen doesn't believe in a curse, doesn't Chuckie Keeton has thrown all season, going mean it isn't real, right? 149 passes without one. 14: Number of touchdowns Turbin scored 2: Times the USU offense hasn't scored in this season, including two through the air. New the red zone in 26 attempts. Also the num- Mexico State's Taveon Rogers sits at No. 2 with ber of times the USU defense has stopped eight. opponents from scoring in the red zone on 24 15: How many seconds were on the clock attempts. after the touchdown to go up 27 24 when 2nd chance: Number of overtimes it took quarterback Riley Nelson led BYU to a comefor Colorado State to steal a homecoming win back win over his previous Utah school. away in Romney Stadium. USU also had a sec16: Chuckie Keeton, 'nuff said. Proclaimed - and chance opportunity to go for two on the by Gordon Monson as the best quarterback final play and failed twice. in the state. He has 101 completions on 3: The spot on USU's all-time career rushing 162 attempts for 1,147 passing yards and 10 touchdowns list where running back Robert touchdowns. Keeton has added 229 yards and Turbin currently sits with 33. another four touchdowns on the ground. 4: Number of 1-score losses Utah State has 17: Number of years between wins over had this season. BYU before last season's 31-16 victory in 5: The number of times the Aggies have Logan. Aggie fans will be holding onto that blown a fourth quarter lead. Also the number one for a long time, even though the revenge of touchdowns Keeton had in a record-tying game already took place. performance against Wyoming. 18: Number of points USU has been out6: Utah State's national rank in rushing scored by in the fourth quarter in all games offense with an average of 278.4 yards per combined — 45 for, 63 against. game. Highest rushing offense game was 440 19: Number of points Wyoming scored against Weber State. against Utah State, all in the first half — 12 7: Utah State's spot in the Western Athletic points came within 6 seconds of each other Conference standings. Only the Idaho Vandals when returner Kerwynn Williams let the kicktrail in eighth place with a 1-6, 0-3 record. off go between his legs and settle in the end 8: Number of yards Turbin has gone back- zone where it was recovered by the Cowboys wards while rushing this season. He had a for a touchdown. loss of 1 yard to La. Tech, a loss of 2 yards to 20: Number of tackles linebacker Bobby Wyoming, a loss of 2 yards to BYU, a loss of 1 Wagner leads the WAC with. He has 89 total. yard to Weber State and a pair of minus 1-yard It is also the number of tackles he had in the runs to Auburn. game against Louisiana Tech for a career-high. 9: Number of carries Turbin had in loss to 79: Number of yards covered on a touchBYU. Not considering an 80-yard touchdown down pass from Diondre Bore! to Xavier on the first offensive play of the game, he had Martin in the BYU game, which directly led to eight carries for 43 yards that day. Keeton's signing. OK, so when the student sec- 9 minutes: The amount of time left in the tion chanted his name, that didn't hurt either. first quarter in Provo when former BYU track athlete and Aggie defensive back McKade - Tavin Stucki is a sophomore majoring in print Brady was questionably ejected for leaving his feet to put a hit on freshman receiver Ross Apo. Apo already dropped the pass before being hit and was walked off the field by athletic trainers after the play. 10: Highest margin of defeat. Fresno State journalism. He is the sports editor for The Utah Statesman and writes USU football stories for ksl.com. He is an avid Aggie fan and has been since birth. Follow him on Twitter at @ tavinstucki for football updates. Send any comments to tavin.stucki@aggiemaiLusu.edu . |