Utah State's Cass Matheus began to show his potential during the Aggies' last six games of the season last year.
Matheus (6-foot-10, 235 pounds) started five of the last six games and averaged 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds. In his first career start, he scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and pulled down four rebounds in a win over Long Beach. Three games later, Matheus, a senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed six rebounds in a win over Fullerton in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament.
Over the summer, Utah State coach Stew Morrill said Matheus has gotten better.
"He's bigger, he's stronger and he's more confident," Morrill said. "I think Cass will surprise a few people this year."
With the loss of Steve Cobbley to a career-ending back injury, Matheus is one of three centers on the team along with Arvydas Vaitiekus and freshman Nate Bendall.
Vaitiekus (6-11, 230) averaged two points and 3.8 rebounds in the Aggies' first two exhibition games, and Morrill said Wednesday he most likely won't play this week at Oral Roberts on Saturday in the season opener or against Middle Tennessee on Monday because he may redshirt.
Bendall, who averaged 14.9 points in 21 of 23 games for Skyline High last year, just returned to practice this week after nursing an injured foot, the same foot that kept him out of two high school games.
He practiced lightly Tuesday and was expected to do more on Wednesday. How he and his foot respond will determine if he plays this weekend.
Nate Harris, who starts at power forward, will also see time at the center position.
Matheus averaged 11.5 points and eight rebounds in the two exhibition games, but Morrill said he still has plenty of room to improve.
"Cassiano is playing really hard," Morrill said. "He took a few bad shots the other night (a loss to EA Sports) and he realized that we don't need him taking some of those shots.
"As he gets more and more time he'll settle in and be a little more patient offensively."
In averaging 6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds a game last year, Matheus shot 56.1 percent from the field and 65.9 percent from the foul line. In the two exhibition games, he is shooting just 50 percent from the field (9 of 18) but is shooting 83.3 percent from the foul line. He also has four assists and four blocks.
"He's active and aggressive and trying to rebound the ball better," Morrill said. "I've been happy with his progress from last year."
SHAKING IT UP: Durall Peterson started in the 67-60 loss to EA Sports last week and scored eight points and grabbed two rebounds. Coming off the bench in the first game, a 66-38 win over Occidental College two weeks ago, he scored just three points and had one rebound. Chris Session, who came off the bench Saturday, didn't score after netting nine in the season-opening exhibition win.
COLD CARROLL: Sophomore Jaycee Carroll is shooting just 34.8 percent from the field (8 of 23) and 30.8 percent from the 3-point line (4 of 13). On the other hand,Harris, who is a career 65 percent shooter, is 12 of 19 for 63.2 percent. As a team, the Aggies are shooting 44.3 percent from the field but only 23.3 percent from the 3-point line (7 of 30). The Aggies, however, are shooting 85 percent from the free-throw line.
PAK AT POINT: Morrill said Wednesday that David Pak will focus more on playing the point rather than the two-guard position. Pak leads the team in assists with 10, but he also has a team-high five turnovers.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com