FILE PHOTO: USU basketball in the Spectrum. Photo by Robert K. Scott
LOGAN – During his media availability Sunday afternoon, Utah State men’s basketball head coach Ryan Odom revealed the starting five for his team’s season-opener against Utah Valley.
Those five players will be senior guard Rylan Jones, junior guard Max Shulga, senior guard/forward Sean Bairstow, graduate transfer Taylor Funk, and senior Trevin Dorius. Jones and Bairstow were both mainstays in the starting lineup for much of the season, but Shulga, Funk and Dorius will be (mostly) newcomers to the lineup.
Shulga and Dorius have both started games for the Aggies (Shulga started twice last year and Dorius once) but were not crucial parts of the lineups. Dorius only averaged 8.1 minutes per game last year and Shulga just 13.7. And while the center spot in the rotation opened up with the departure of Brandon Horvath, it seemed unlikely that Shulga could break through seeing as RJ Eytle-Rock, who started 30 games last year, is returning for a final season. But Shulga clearly impressed Odom.
“Max had a great summer. Max has won that spot at this point,” Odom said. “I think we all saw it as the year progressed last year he began to improve. He was thrust into the starting lineup a couple of times when we had other guys out and he performed well.
“Portland State, I believe, was one of them, helped us win that game. And then he began to be a reliable role/sub for us as the year went on in conference play and began to earn more minutes.”
Funk was largely expected to fill in the open power forward spot in the lineup after Justin Bean’s graduation left it empty. The transfer from St. Joseph’s averaged 13.2 points and 6.6 rebounds last season. He’s also been a notable sharpshooter throughout his career. However, there’s certainly been questions about the depth of the power forward position. Freshman Cade Potter was the only other power forward on the roster, but he is no longer with the team.
The backups at power forward, according to Odom, will be Dan Akin and Sean Bairstow. Akin will be the primary backup with Bairstow receiving some minutes at the four. Odom said Akin started at the four in both scrimmages they played against other D1 teams (Funk was out injured for both scrimmages). According to Odom, lineups with Bairstow at the four will “definitely” happen but won’t be the norm.
Coming off the bench, Utah State will have two veteran guards in Steven Ashworth and RJ Eytle-Rock. The pair will certainly be capable of carrying the bench unit with scoring, shooting and playmaking. Akin, who was a full-time starter at Cal-Baptist before transferring to USU, should also give the Aggies plenty of depth in its lineup.
“You can argue the second group that goes in there, they could be starters,” Odom said. “I think that’s the type of team we have right now, which is a good thing. We were worried about our bench last year. We feel like we’ve got a lot of different guys that can impact the game in a positive way and different combinations that we can put out there on the floor.”
