In what will be just the second game of the season, Utah State will have to take on one of its toughest non-conference tests in A-10 powerhouse VCU. The Rams were where former Utah State head coach Ryan Odom had found a new home, but Odom has since moved on to Virginia. As a result, VCU has quite a few new faces on the bench and on the court, much like the Aggies have plenty of new faces (though more on the court than on the bench).
Here’s all of the necessary info ahead of this next game for Utah State.
How to watch
- Tip-off: 6 p.m. (Mountain Time)
- Location: Comerica Center (Frisco, TX)
- TV Broadcast: Urban Edge Network (link to their free stream)
- Radio Broadcast: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) / kvnutalk.com / KVNU mobile app
KVNU Aggie GameDay pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: 5 p.m.
KVNU Aggie Call: Immediately after Coach Calhoun’s post-game comments
Availability Report
Utah State forward/center Zach Keller did not play in the Aggies’ opener due to a sprained ankle suffered during practice two days before the game. Calhoun opted to hold out the Utah transfer, though he noted that Keller could have played if necessary and the coach is fully expecting Keller to be on the court Friday.
VCU also had a player out for its first game of the year. LSU transfer wing Tyrell Ward was out with an injury. His availability for Friday’s game is expected to be a game-time decision.
Projected Starters
Utah State (1-0)
- G – Drake Allen (6-5, Sr.) – 4.0 points | 6.0 rebounds | 9.0 assists
- G – Mason Falslev (6-4, Jr.) – 9.0 points | 5.0 rebounds | 4.0 assists
- G – MJ Collins (6-4, Sr.) – 23.0 points | 4.0 rebounds | 1.0 assists
- F – Tucker Anderson (6-9, Jr.) – 9.0 points | 3.0 rebounds | 1.0 assists
- F – Karson Templin (6-8, Jr.) – 8.0 points | 3.0 rebounds | 3.0 assists
VCU (1-0)
- G – Nyk Lewis (6-1, Fr.) – 10.0 points | 5.0 rebounds | 5.0 assists
- G – Brandon Jennings (6-4, So.) – 15.0 points | 8.0 rebounds | 6.0 assists
- F – Jadrian Tracey (6-5, Sr.) – 13.0 points | 5.0 rebounds | 3.0 assists
- F – Barry Evans (6-8, Sr.) – 6.0 points | 3.0 rebounds | 0.0 assists
- F – Lazar Djokovic (6-10, Gr.) – 21.0 points | 5.0 rebounds | 1.0 assists
Team Statistical Ranks
Pace and offense/defense efficiency ratings via Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. All rankings are out of 365 teams.
Utah State
- Pace — 167th
- Offensive Efficiency — 117.2 (21st)
- Defensive Efficiency — 99.7 (74th)
- 3-point Percentage — 51.4% (13th)
- 3-Point Attempt Rate — .536 (17th)
- Offensive Rebounding Percent — 39.3% (103rd)
- Total Rebounding Percent — 64.8% (38th)
- KenPom Rank – 41st
VCU
- Pace — 7th
- Offensive Efficiency — 110.3 (84th)
- Defensive Efficiency — 96.5 (37th)
- 3-point Percentage — 41.2% (T-59th)
- 3-Point Attempt Rate — .500 (42nd)
- Offensive Rebounding Percent — 41.0% (85th)
- Total Rebounding Percent — 54.3% (144th)
- KenPom Rank – 60th
Game Preview
Both sides of this contest are fully aware of what this game means for their respective non-conference schedules. VCU is likely to be the toughest team Utah State will face before the start of conference play, ranking 60th according to KenPom. The Rams are the second-hardest non-conference opponent USU will face overall (and only barely behind the highest-ranked team, 54th-ranked Memphis). For VCU, the Aggies are the highest-ranked team by KenPom on its entire schedule, regardless of non-conference or conference play.
Rams head coach Phil Martelli Jr. said the Aggies are “everything that they’re advertised to be,” having been an NCAA Tournament team last year and picked to finish second in the Mountain West this year.
“If (Utah State) were in the Atlantic-10, they would have been picked to win the league, or be right at the top,” Martelli said. “So, right off the bat it’s a championship-level game for us.”
Martelli has just entered his first regular season as head coach of VCU. His previous stop was at Bryant where he spent two years and guided the Bulldogs to a 43-25 record across two seasons. Last year, Martelli led Bryant to its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, earning a 15 seed as the Bulldogs swept the regular season and conference tournament titles of the American East Conference.
USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun has previously crossed paths with Martelli and holds both he and his family in high regard.
“I had a chance to listen to him speak a few months back at a clinic that both he and I did, and have a ton of respect,” Calhoun said. “Obviously, dates back with his dad at St. Joe’s, Phil Martelli [Sr.] is just a legend. That whole family, they’re basketball junkies.”
The season opening games for both of these teams went rather well, with VCU routing Wagner 103-74 and Utah State putting a 110-54 beatdown on Westminster. Those games being the wide-margin results they were, virtually every offensive metric is astounding for both VCU and USU. What holds back analysis of those games is the caliber of opponent the Rams and Aggies faced. USU’s opponent is a Division II school while VCU beat a team currently ranked 361st in KenPom. As such, it can be difficult to grasp just how good either side truly is on offense.
For the Rams, a good indicator of their offensive capability despite a weak opponent comes from the incredible job they did of generating the most efficient shot profile possible. Modern offenses highly prioritize getting points at three spots which are, in order of preference 1) at the rim 2) at the 3-point line 3) at the free throw line. VCU did an incredible job against Wagner in doing those three things. All but two of VCU’s points, as in 101 of 103 that it scored, came on a layup, 3-pointer or free throw — 14 threes, 19 layups and 21 free throws.
Fast-paced, transition-heavy offense played a pretty big key in getting many of those efficient shots. VCU scored more than a third of its points in transition overall, which included 32 points via fastbreaks.
Martelli emphasized that he wants his team to get the ball quickly up the court and be able to move into the offense in addition to the fast break points.
“It’s nice when we get a hit-ahead dunk or a hit-ahead three. We love that,” Martelli said. “But being able to get it up the floor and just flow — this team has been much better with that through the exhibitions, through practice, through inter-squad scrimmages. When we can get our legs moving and flow into that offense.”
Utah State saw its own success moving the ball quickly up the court, scoring 47 of its points in transition, including 38 fastbreak points. Though the most stunning stat of the night for the Aggies was the 19 made 3-pointers, which was just two off tying the program record for a single game.
With both sides being so dominant on offense, at least initially, things like defense, rebounding and turnovers become critical to finding room to seperate. In that sense, the Aggies might have an edge as VCU’s defense didn’t put up a particularly high quality game, allowing 74 points to a Wagner team that ranks 360th (out of 365) teams in Division I for KenPom offensive rating metric. And while that’s largely preseason analysis based rating, Wagner has averaged roughly 63 points per game in each of its previous three seasons under head coach Donald Copeland. Rams head coach Phil Martelli Jr. described his squad’s defense has “having a couple of slip-ups, some of it was (Wagner) made some tough shots.”
One area where VCU did incredibly well on defense, with few slip-ups, was its rim protection. Wagner shot just 42.4% on attempts at the rim
A key feature of VCU’s defense against Wagner was a full-court press. It’s not an all-out, 94-feet of full-on pressure, but it does delay the start of the offense and force the point guard to make good decisions on every play. And of Wagner’s 15 turnovers, seven occured on plays which began with the Rams’ in a press defense (though only three of those were directly attributable to the press defense in the backcourt).
Calhoun drew a contrast between Martelli’s defensive style and his own. The Aggies don’t press all that often, just 22% of defensive possessions last year and only 17% of possessions against Westminster on Monday. Disruption and turnovers remain a goal for both, but in different styles.
“We get turnovers in a little bit of a different way. They like the full-court press. We get ours in the halfcourt,” Calhoun said.
The Aggies forced 17 turnovers against Westminster along with 35 between the exhibition games against San Francisco and Seattle for an average of 17.3 in those three contests. VCU’s opponents, including exhibitions, have averaged 13.0 turnovers.
As for rebounding, VCU have been pretty much equal with its opponents, whether high or low level. The Rams were equal with Villanova (41-41) despite an eventual 19-point loss in that exhibition game and were likewise equal with Fairfield (40-40). They did end up with a +7 advantage in rebounding over Wagner (44-37) Utah State meanwhile, has won the rebounding battle in all three contests, being +3 over Seattle (34-31), +6 over San Francisco (41-35) and +21 against Westminster (46-25). The Aggies have found a way to be on the positive side of the rebounding battle each time, but it’s hard to say whether they can keep up that physicality against a VCU team that has held its own against high-level competition, even if the Rams haven’t yet found a way to be dominant themselves on the glass.
Both sides might be getting back key players in their rotation that missed their respective season openers. Utah State is pretty much for sure anticipating the return of Zach Keller from a sprained ankle while VCU might be getting wing Tyrell Ward back. Ward is a transfer from LSU who averaged 9.1 points per game with the Tigers. Martelli noted earlier in the week that Ward would participate in some practice work and that his ability to move effectively would be an indicator of whether the 6-foot-6 wing will play.
“As long as he’s moving OK, then there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to play,” Martelli said.
Ward was the leading scorer for VCU in its two exhibition games, scoring 10 against Villanova and 18 against Fairfield.
Calhoun, for his part, has prepared his team with the expectation that Ward will be on the court and in uniform and that the LSU transfer will play a big factor in this game.
“We’ll go as he’s going to play,” Calhoun said. “He’s definitely a green on our scouting report, that’s a guy that can absolutely fill it up. He can shoot the ball, looking at some of his LSU tape. He’s got great size and length.”
As for Utah State’s returning player, Keller will deepen the bigman rotation for the Aggies and may very well start. Keller started in one of the exhibition games and played key minutes in the second exhibition. Calhoun said the 6-foot-10 transfer is “right there in the mix” for the starting job and Calhoun has repeatedly praised Keller’s on-court abilities.
“He’s very smart,” Calhoun said. “Scores around the rim. He can make a three so we can stretch the defense when he’s in there. He’s just a he’s a competitor.”
