LOGAN — Utah State returns to Logan for its second home game of the season, fresh off an overtime loss at Bradley. The Aggies will take on Southern Utah, a team gunning for a repeat of last year’s 24-13 record.
How to watch
- Tip-off: 6 p.m. MT on Tuesday, Nov. 14
- Location: Dee Glen Smith Spectrum (Logan, UT)
- KVNU Aggie GameDay with Al Lewis: 5 p.m.
- KVNU Aggie Call with Al Lewis: Immediately after Coach Sprinkle’s post-game comments
- TV Broadcast: KMYU, Channel 12
- Radio Broadcast: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) in Logan; KVNU (98.3) in Tremonton; KVNU (93.5) in Garden City; KZNS (97.5 FM, 1280 AM) in Salt Lake City; KRPX (102.7 FM) in Green River, Utah; KRPX (100.3 FM) in Moab; KRPX (95.9 FM) in Orangeville; KRPX (95.3 FM) in Price; KVSI (1450 AM/104.5 FM) in Montpelier, Idaho.
Injuries
Utah State
- Max Agbonkpolo (Foot) – Game-Time Decision
Projected Starters
Utah State (1-1)
- G – Darius Brown (6-2, Sr.) – 11.5 points | 4.5 rebounds | 7.5 assists
- G – Mason Falslev (6-3, Fr.) – 8.5 points | 3.0 rebounds | 3.5 assists
- G – Josh Uduje (6-5, Jr.) – 11.5 points | 2.0 rebounds | 1.0 assists
- F – Great Osobor (6-8, Jr.) – 18.0 points | 8.0 rebounds | 3.5 assists
- C – Isaac Johnson (7-0, So.) – 10 points | 5.5 rebounds | 1.5 assists
Southern Utah (1-1)
- G – Prophet Johnson (6-3, So.) – 12.5 points | 6.0 rebounds | 2.5 assists
- G – Braden Housley (6-4, So.) – 13.5 points | 6.0 rebounds | 2.0 assists
- G – Dominique Ford (6-4, Sr.) – 14.0 points | 4.0 rebounds | 2.5 assists
- F – Chazz Hutchison (6-9, Jr.) – 12.5 points | 5.0 rebounds | 0.0 assists
- C – Parsa Fallah (6-9, Jr.) – 15.5 points | 6.5 rebounds | 3.0 assists
Team Statistical Ranks
Pace and offense/defense efficiency ratings via Ken Pomeroy. All ranks are out of 363 Division I teams.
Utah State
- Pace – 70.9 (188th)
- Offensive Efficiency – 103.8 (138th)
- Defensive Efficiency – 98.7 (87th)
- Field Goal % – 47.4 (125th)
- 3-point % – 35.4 (132nd)
- Offensive Rebounding % – 35.5 (104th)
- Total Rebounding % – 58.4 (50th)
- KenPom Rank – 103rd
Southern Utah
- Pace – 70.2 (220th)
- Offensive Efficiency – 100.1 (231st)
- Defensive Efficiency – 107.3 (296th)
- Field Goal % – 46.3 (150th)
- 3-point % – 36.4 (112th)
- Offensive Rebounding % – 48.1 (7th)
- Total Rebounding % – 58.3 (51st)
- KenPom Rank – 260th
Summary
The Aggies took a tough loss at Bradley, having victory within reach but not being able to make plays down the stretch. But head coach Danny Sprinkle wanted to make sure his team moved on from that loss, not dwelling too much on falling short in the team’s first game against a Division I opponent.
“I told them (Monday), ‘Put a smile on your face. We’re gonna play in one of the best environments in college basketball tomorrow night.’ We should be pretty grateful to have a home game,” Sprinkle said. “You have to move on from stuff like that. We showed them the film and I want to see our response defensively.”
There are improvements on both sides of the ball Sprinkle wants to see play out tonight, fixes of mistakes that cost the Aggies a road victory. On defense, he spoke of a couple “breakdowns” on defense that led to USU’s defeat. Sprinkle also called out his team’s transition defense, saying it “wasn’t as good as it needs to be to beat a team like Bradley on the road.”
On offense the Aggies shot very poorly last time out, making just 33.8 percent of their field goal attempts. Sprinkle didn’t seem too upset at the offense, saying “I know we’ll make shots” going forward.
“We moved the basketball really well,” Sprinkle said. “There was probably four shots down there in the last couple minutes that if any one of them would have fallen…any of those change the game.”
Utah State’s next foe won’t be as tough as the Braves, a team expected to finish toward the top of the Missouri Valley Conference, but it’s not a pushover team. Southern Utah finished third in the WAC, even upsetting Utah Valley in the WAC Tournament semifinals last year and coming within a game of making the NCAA Tournament. Though the Thunderbirds did lose a lot of players, almost comparable to the Aggies.
Of the eight players who appeared in at least 20 games for SUU last year, only center Parsa Fallah is back. Fallah was a minor rotation player, though a consistent one, appearing in 33 games but playing just 7.9 minutes per game. This year so far, the 6-foot-9 junior is the Thunderbirds’ leader in points (15.5 per game), rebounds (6.5), assists (3.0) and blocks (0.5).
“(Fallah is) really improved and he’s similar to Great,” Sprinkle said. “He’s kind of a big, thick body. But he can really move and he can score down low.”
The newcomers for SUU have provided a balanced level of scoring, with the four of them — Dominique Ford, Braden Housley, Prophet Johnson and Zion Young — all averaging between 12.5 and 14.0 points in the first two games of the team’s season. The quartet of guards all started SUU’s last game, making for an undersized lineup of four players under 6-foot-5 and a 6-foot-9 center. But in the Thunderbird’s first game of the season, forward Chazz Hutchison started. Given USU’s size in the frontcourt, it’s unlikely SUU runs the four guard lineup as its starting five.
Despite being an undersized group, SUU are a good rebounding team, ranking seventh in offensive rebound percentage and 51st in total rebounding percentage, almost dead even with the Aggies. Finding ways to keep the T-Birds off the boards will be a key to this game.
