Utah State basketball: Aggies grind out win over Western Michigan

USU-WMU boxscore

LOGAN — Utah State was able to grind their way to a 78-57 victory over Western Michigan on the second night of the World Vision Basketball Invitational. The win was the Aggies fifth straight.

"It was a physical, grind-it-out game," coach Stew Morrill said after the game. "I in no way thought that we would get away from them at the end like we did."

Western Michigan came out with something to prove after losing to Troy in overtime the night before. The Broncos pushed the Aggies around and hung with them for most of the first half. At the break the Aggies led 34-30.

It was a physical match that Utah State did not expect to get from the visiting Broncos.

"(Coach Hawkins) was very disappointed in the way the way they played last night talking to him today," Morrill said about Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins. "He got to them. He got them to compete tonight. He made them play physical and I didn't anticipate that, not that much."

In total, the two teams combined for 47 fouls. Of those fouls 29 came from Western Michigan, resulting in 33 free throws for the Aggies.

"If you make a decision to play that physical, you run the risk of getting in foul trouble," Morrill said. "If you are going to play that physical, you are going to foul about every possession. It's just a question of how often the officials want to call it. I'm sure from their perspective they felt like it got called too much. From my perspective, they fouled every possession and the officials called it a lot."

Hawkins did not see it the same way as Morrill.

"It is a different brand of basketball out here," Hawkins said about the foul differential. "I talked to our guys yesterday about that very thing. We are not going to lose our identity while we are here. We will return to the Midwest, and when we return to the Midwest, we will return to a much more physical brand of basketball. We are not going to lose our identity while we are out here."

For the Aggies the game was a good show of the versatility that Morrill strives for.

"What we have always prided ourselves in is trying to play different styles," Morrill said. "If you want to fly on the break, we aren't afraid to run up and down. If you want to be physical and pound it, we can do that. Whatever the game dictates is what we will do. We can play at different speeds and different styles. Tonight was a knockdown, drag-out game."