Utah State basketball: Tough Saint Mary's team next obstacle for Aggies

LOGAN — The decibel meter at Utah State's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum might still be registering the echoes from Wednesday night's 71-61 win over BYU.

But Aggie coach Stew Morrill isn't giving himself much time to enjoy that win. After all, USU hosts what may very well be its toughest non-conference opponent of the season tonight with Saint Mary's at 7 p.m.

"I had no idea they would be as strong as they are," Morrill said of the Gaels, a team the Aggies met in Moraga, Calif., a year ago as part of the Bracket Busters pairings. That team lost its two best players from a squad that had spent several weeks ranked in the Top 25. "This is a really good team that plays really good defense."

Saint Mary's comes to Logan with an impressive 5-1 record and has shown little dropoff after losing those two all-West Coast Conference players. The Gaels have outscored their opponents by an average of nearly 21 points per game while shooting better than 41 percent as a team from 3-point range.

Of most concern, though, is Saint Mary's talented senior center, Omar Samhan.

The 6-foot-11 powerhouse is averaging 19.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, and Morrill is spending extra time drawing up defensive game plans to stop him.

"He's such a load," Morrill said, "and they surrounded him with great shooters."

Mickey McConnell, a 6-0 point guard, is averaging 12.2 points and 6.5 assists, while freshman Matthew Dellavedova is adding 14.3 points and 4.2 assists per game.

Their only loss was a 72-70 setback to Vanderbilt. Other than that, the Gaels have beaten New Mexico State by 32, San Diego State by 22 and Cal Poly by 25.

What Saint Mary's has not done, however, is traveled farther than a few miles from home.

Tonight's game in the Spectrum is the first time this season the Gaels have ventured more than an hour away from their East Bay home — a 78-71 win at San Jose State last week is the only time SMC has left its home campus thus far this season.

That doesn't mean Morrill is expecting an easy game fueled by Utah State's 37-game home-court win streak.

"It's not like they're a bunch of guys that don't understand traveling," Morrill said. "They are an experienced team and should handle it."