Utah State men's basketball: Aggies hope to play stronger in WAC games

LOGAN — When Utah State tips off Saturday night at New Mexico State the Aggies will do so with a more-than-respectable 10-4 overall record and a nice four-game winning streak.

But the Aggies will also begin the Western Athletic Conference season with a bit of disappointment.

"I think we could have won a couple more games," USU point guard Jared Quayle said after the Aggies wrapped up their preseason schedule. "But I think we're coming along OK."

Perhaps, but with four starters returning from a 30-5 team that spent several weeks ranked in the Top 25 there were some high expectations — probably too high, if you ask USU coach Stew Morrill — coming from many followers of the team.

"That was a dream season," Morrill said. "To win 30 games is something you can't expect every year. Some people have to realize that we can't just go out and do that all the time."

Still, the Aggies have had a nice start in many ways.

Utah State handed BYU its only loss of the year — a 71-61 victory in the Spectrum. The Aggies also wrapped up a second consecutive Old Oquirrh Bucket after compiling the best record against in-state school with wins over Southern Utah, Utah Valley and Weber State (twice) to go along with the win over the Cougars.

But there are the same concerns Utah State has had for the past few years — namely, winning away from the rowdy and intimidating Spectrum in Logan.

In five games away from home this year, Utah State is just 2-3. They dropped a 1-point decision to a rebuilding Utah team, fell by three at Northeastern and were never really in a position to win at Long Beach State a couple of weeks ago.

And when Saint Mary's came to Logan on Dec. 5, the Gaels snapped Utah State's 37-game home-court winning streak.

With the exception of the Long Beach State game, Morrill said, the Aggies had every chance they needed to win but suffered prolonged offensive dry spells and blew late leads.

In addition, Utah State's typically robust field goal shooting — the Aggies have led the NCAA in each of the past two seasons — has dipped. After averaging right around 50 percent over the past two seasons, USU is shooting 47 percent this year. While that isn't a huge dropoff, it can be enough to turn a 1-point win into a 1-point loss with just one basket.