Utah State basketball: Aggies worried about UVU's 3-point shooters

OREM — The Utah State Aggies will complete their tour de Utah with a game at Utah Valley this evening.

It will be the Aggies' fifth instate game of the season. They are 3-1 against teams from Utah so far, having previously beaten Weber State, Utah and Southern Utah while losing at BYU.

These two schools have met every season since 2006. The Wolverines have yet to get a win in the series, but it is still a game that head coach Stew Morrill and the Aggies are preparing hard for.

"They are similar to Cal State Bakersfield in that they are a lot better than they were a year ago," Morrill said. "They will come out and defend you, and on offense they run good motion and other good stuff.

"It is a good challenge for us to go down there. For all the trips that we have made down to Orem to play, this is probably the best Utah Valley team we have faced."

Isiah Williams leads the Wolverines at just over 15 points a game. Williams and his teammates' ability to shoot the ball from long range particularly worries Morrill.

"(Williams) is a pure shooter and is dangerous from the 3-point line," Morrill said. "They shoot 40 percent from 3 and they take quite a few of them. They get a lot of those shots in transition."

Utah Valley also features two former Utah high school standouts in Holton Hunsaker (Woods Cross) and Ben Aird (Bountiful).

"Holton Hunsaker was a guy you watched (out of high school) and really liked how competitive he is," Morrill said. "Ben Aird is a real skilled big-body guy that everybody watched (out of high school) and took a look at. I think he is a guy that many people may take a look at and say we might have missed on him. He just does a lot of things with his size and skill level."

The Aggies are excited to get back on the court, having not played since last Saturday's victory over Cal State Bakersfield. The team has spent finals week focusing on exams, and on the practice court working on their offense.

"We added some different things, and we did work really hard on our execution offensively," Morrill said. "It's not that it has been horrible, it just hasn't been as sharp as I would like. We are getting pretty good shots, and we got a lot of extra shooting in this week. We haven't had enough time to get shooting in, so hopefully the extra practice will help us."

UVU coach Dick Hunsaker has plenty of respect for the Aggies and the strong program that Morrill has built at Utah State.

"Utah State is the reigning WAC champion and the preseason favorite. They have an all-conference starting lineup and a coach with 500 wins. We've got our hands full," the Wolverines' coach said. "We recognize and respect the challenge of competing with the Aggies, but we're looking forward and excited to play them."

The Aggies' leading scorer is senior and WAC preseason Player of the Year Tai Wesley, who's averaging 14.7 points per game.

Wesley is a Provo High School graduate and the brother of former Wolverine players Russell and Tika Wesley.

Aggies/Wolverines on the air

Utah State (7-2) at Utah Valley (4-5)

Today, 7 p.m.

UCCU Center, Orem

TV: CW30 Radio: 1230 AM, 1400 AM, 95.9 FM,