USU men's basketball: Aggie bigs motivated for SJS rematch

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Since the San Jose State trio of Tim Pierce, C.J. Webster and Chris Oakes took the Utah State big men to task in a 70-67 victory over the Aggies just over three weeks ago, Tai Wesley, who was ejected in that game, Gary Wilkinson, who had just three points, and Stephen DuCharme have picked up their games.

That beating, along with the verbal displeasure of Utah State coach Stew Morrill, motivated the Aggie bigs, and they have responded and are a major reason the Aggies enter today's Western Athletic Conference Tournament opener with San Jose State on a five-game winning streak.

The game tips today at 2:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN Full Court (pay-per-view). San Jose State beat Louisiana Tech, 64-62, Tuesday night to earn the right to play the Aggies.

"We have good post players, and I'm not in any way saying their post players are better than our post players, but no question they have hurt us," Morrill said.

"Our post guys have got to take the challenge a little bit and step up and play better against San Jose, and I am confident they will play better."

In the Aggies' five-game winning streak, all three big men are averaging more than their conference scoring averages, while Wesley and Wilkinson are also averaging more rebounds.

Those two got it going right away in their next game following the San Jose setback by combining for 38 points and 21 rebounds in their win over UC Santa Barbara.

"I think we both came in with the mindset that we have to prove ourselves once again and establish ourselves as physical posts, something that Utah State is used to," Wilkinson said following the win over the Gauchos.

He had 14 points and 12 rebounds in that contest, and it was the first of three straight double-doubles for Wilkinson, who was named second-team All-WAC earlier this week. He was one rebound shy of four straight in Utah State's 88-69 victory over Boise State last week.

He is averaging 15.6 points and 8.8 rebounds in that time frame.

Wesley dropped 24 points on UCSB, which was the first of four straight games of 10 points or more for the freshman. He had nine points and eight boards in the win over Idaho in the regular-season finale.

He is averaging 14 points and seven rebounds in the last five outings.