LOGAN -- The last visiting basketball coach to win a game in Utah State's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was Stew Morrill, whose Colorado State Rams dunked the Aggies 62-59 nearly two years ago.
Twenty-nine straight home wins later, Morrill -- now coach of Utah State (5-0) -- is trying to protect the Aggie win streak against his old team, CSU (5-1), which comes calling tonight at 7 with new coach Ritchie McKay.The Rams have won the last three games against Utah State, with the Aggies scoring 59 points in all three games. CSU stopped a 4-0 Aggie win streak in 1997 in Fort Collins.
"We've got their head coach now," said Aggie junior Troy Rolle, averaging 14.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in his first NCAA season. "He will get us prepared to do a good job against them.
"We'll come out with a lot more fire," Rolle says regarding last week's 69-65 win over Division III Whitworth College of Spokane.
Morrill doesn't talk about any special feelings for this game against many players he coached to back-to-back 20-win seasons before leaving in August to replace Larry Eustachy at USU. "I know all those kids. We recruited all of them," he said. "That game provides all kinds of interesting sidelights."
Morrill knows the Rams have confidence in playing USU. "These kids from Colorado State will think they're supposed to beat Utah State. I don't say that in a negative manner, just a factual manner. That is what they think. They just think they are supposed to win that game.
"I hope our guys feel the same way. If we do, it will be a fun game," Morrill said.
Giving CSU even more reason to gear up, Utah State is receiving votes (12) in the Associated Press poll, even though only two of its wins are against Division I schools (Utah, San Diego State).
Morrill says the voters were swayed early by the win over No. 9 Utah, now 3-3. "We are highly over-thought-of, over-rated," he said. "I was 18-3 at Colorado State last year and getting one vote."
The Rams are coming off a 64-50 win at Oregon State Monday. Their other wins are unimpressive: McNeese State, Montana Tech, Texas-Pan American and Eastern Michigan. They lost to Colorado. They are a bit bigger than USU with 6-foot-8 center Ceedric Goodwyn (12.6 points, 3.2 rebounds) and 6-7 forward Garrett Patik (6.8, 6.8) but get points from the perimeter.
Morrill compares CSU point guard Milton Palacio (20-8, 5-2) to Utah's Andre Miller. "Palacio, right after Miller, may be the next-best point guard in the WAC. He is scary," Morrill said. USU's largely unknown point guards, Tyrone Allick and Rashad Elliott, played decently against Miller but have 32 turnovers, 31 assists, 35 points and only eight steals between them in five games. The Ags have had 20 turnovers in each of their past two games.
Aggie 6-6 center Donnie Johnson averages 16.2 and 6.8, and 6-5 Pharoah Davis 9.0 and 9.8. Freshman Tony Brown, a 6-3 guard, scores 11.4.
USU still has defensive problems in man-to-man coverage. It let Whitworth get eight layups in the second half last week. CSU runs a lot of sets and presses some. "I think they are trying to play uptempo," Morrill said.
The Ags' home-win streak is third-longest in the nation, and their 5-0 start is the school's best since 1970 and Morrill's career-best. USU hasn't started 6-0 since 1967.
USU is at Fresno State next Thursday and doesn't play at home again until Dec. 29, though it hosts Weber State in the Delta Center Dec. 19.