'Little Orphan' Stew singing about Aggies next opponent

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Following their disappointing 63-62 loss to the University of the Pacific Saturday, Utah State coach Stew Morrill — like Little Orphan Annie — is singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow."

"It was awfully tough being in the position we were in. To me it shouldn't be any different — losses are always tough," said Morrill of the Aggies' eight-point lead with 38 seconds left against the Tigers.

"You have to rebound and the sun comes up the next day and I'm on to the next thing and expect them (the Aggies) to be on to the next thing."

The "next thing" for the Aggies: UC Riverside tonight at 8.

The Aggies don't have time to rehash Saturday's massive meltdown — there is too much at stake with just five games remaining in Big West Conference play.

Currently, Utah State is in third-place in the league — a half-game behind Northridge (10-4).

The Matadors have four games remaining with Cal Poly, Pacific, UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton, while the Aggies (9-4) have games with Riverside (tonight), Fullerton (Saturday), Long Beach State, UC Irvine and Idaho.

If both Utah State and Northridge run the table, the Matadors would earn the No. 2 seed in the Big West Conference tournament and bye into the semifinals.

Utah State would finish third and open play Thursday night.

If the Aggies win all five and Northridge loses to Pacific, the two teams would tie for second and Utah State would get the No. 2 seed via tie-breaker.

CS Fullerton (7-5) is currently fourth in the league, but it beat Northridge in overtime earlier in the year and Utah State would get the No. 2 seed because of that win.

Morrill, however, isn't letting his team look that far down the road.

"Obviously with the tournament byes, the higher you can finish it's quite an advantage," he said. "We've got to go out and play then one by one and we have on our notebook 'win our next game,' that is our only goal and that means a lot more than it says.

"It's a lot tougher to do than it says — to put the last game behind you and not worry about two games from now and all those things. You just have to focus on (UC) Riverside."

Utah State is 8-1 all-time against UC Riverside since it joined the Big West Conference. The Highlanders' lone win over Utah State came at Riverside, 72-65, in 2003.