Utah State basketball: Showdown at Nevada big for USU

RENO, Nev. — The Western Athletic Conference season will be only four games old, but for Utah State, tonight's game at Nevada has some very big overtones.

A win means Utah State is right back in the thick of a WAC title chase.

A loss? Well, that would drop the Aggies to 1-3 in league play and give them a serious uphill battle over the final two months of the season.

"Every game is important when you're in league," Utah State forward Tai Wesley said. "But this one being Nevada, with them being more of a rival, it feels bigger."

The Aggies, fresh off a 98-54 beatdown of Hawaii on Monday night, will try to take some of that momentum to Nevada, where a very talented Wolf Pack team awaits.

After struggling a bit with a new coach early in the season, Nevada appears to be playing as well as anyone in the WAC at this point.

The Pack has won eight of its last 10 games, has turned up the offensive pace and is shooting 49.2 percent while scoring 82.6 points per game.

"They are talented," USU coach Stew Morrill said, emphasizing the words slowly. "They are playing so fast. ... They basically have two NBA guys out there in Armon (Johnson) and (Luke) Babbitt, and they are turning them loose."

Babbitt, just a sophomore, is making a serious run at WAC player of the year. The 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward is averaging 20.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and shooting 51.5 percent from the floor.

Johnson, an athletic 6-3 point guard, is throwing in 16.8 points per game while dishing out 4.9 assists per outing. His drive-and-dish game has helped forward Joey Shaw score 11.1 points per game, while shooting guard Brandon Fields has benefited from the open perimeter to the tune of 14.6 ppg.

Utah State, on the other hand, enjoys a more controlled pace by working the shot clock looking for open shots.

The Aggies will try to slow the Wolf Pack not only by controlling their own tempo, but by applying some three-quarter court pressure designed not necessarily to create turnovers — though those would be nice — but to eat up a few seconds of clock and put Nevada into more of a hurry to put up a shot.

Nevada has yet to lose at the Lawlor Events Center this season, winning all eight of its home games.

But Utah State hasn't exactly had bad luck in the facility — winning three games in three days, including a 72-62 win in the WAC Tournament title game, last year.