Utah State Hoopsters Finish Exhibition 2-0,

Utah State basketball Head Coach Stew Morrill enjoys playing Global Sports.

Not because of its dismal 1-9 record (the only win coming against Southern Utah), or its lack of so-called "big name" players. Morrill enjoys competing against the Global Sports All-stars because it wants to help collegiate programs improve.

"The good thing about [Global Sports] is they will ask you what you want them to do, before the game and at halftime," Morrill said following Utah State's 83-68 victory Friday. "You don't get a lot of opponents that will do that. They do it because they want to keep coming back every year. I like playing them for that reason."

Morrill said the main thing he asked Global Sports Head Coach Clay Moser to throw at USU was zone defense. Moser did and it was the first time the Aggies had seen it in a game situation.

In fact, Moser asked Morrill at halftime if Global Sports was playing enough zone. The truth — yes, Utah State wasn't dealing with it well.

There were times when the Aggies looked good, showing improvement since their last exhibition game Nov. 2 against EA Sports.

Global Sports, on the other hand, had few, if any, bright spots during the game. The team was tired, playing its fourth game in as many nights.

Forward Desmond Penigar led the USU charge with 20 points and six rebounds on 6-of-14 shooting. Not bad for someone who spent most of the last two weeks watching practice from the bench.

Penigar missed practice between exhibition games because of tendonitis in his right knee.

"We've got to get him back in shape," Morrill said. "You wouldn't think a week off would do that much to you, but he was huffing and puffing in practice. He's a big, strong kid carrying around a lot of weight and strength."

Penigar said, "After I took the week off, it was kind of hard coming back to practice. It was worth it because if you've got tendonitis you know how bad it hurts. You've got to take a couple of days off. When I took those days off it felt good."

Spencer Nelson, another Aggie who has spent the last while battling knee problems, also chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds off 4-of-4 shooting in 22 minutes of play. Nelson earned most of his points from the charity stripe though, going 6 for 7.

Nelson just had the garbage man mentality Friday, putting back several missed buckets and outhustling everyone to the ball.

Utah State opened the game with a 6-0 lead and never looked back, coming away with a 41-29 lead at the break.

USU found itself in a slump late in the second half until Cardell Butler livened things up with a dunk and then an alley-oop play seconds later, putting the Aggies up 81-59.

"I asked Cardell where he'd been after [that]," Morrill said. "He's explosive and he's learning. He's fun to coach because he's taking it all in."

Following Butler's plays with nearly five minutes left, USU did not score again until 19 seconds remaining in the game off a layup by Nate Harris.

Global Sports pulled down more boards than USU (34-32) but the Aggies were able to cut down their turnovers to seven. Global Sports recorded 16.

"We have been turning the ball over a lot in scrimmages and practices this past week," Nelson said. "We only had seven turnovers so that says a lot about our point guards and shooting guards."

The Aggies will begin their regular season Saturday as they travel to Illinois. The first home game will be Nov. 26 before USU hits the road for a lengthy trip, including a tournament in Hawaii.

Morrill said his team is ready to begin the season and stop beating up on one another.

"We only have one home game in the next month which is really weird," Morrill said. "All the years I have been coaching I've never been in this situation. I always open at home, except for last year. I never, ever have had this many road games. We just couldn't get anybody to come here."

The reason? Possibly USU's 57-5 record at home over the last four years. Or even more likely, the hour and one-half long commute from Salt Lake International Airport to Logan.

Morrill isn't complaining though. He knows that is just part of the battle with scheduling.

In an effort to promote new school traditions at basketball games, the Utah State Athletics Department and ASUSU passed out thousands of blue flyers encouraging fans to adopt the new ideas.

Such things included chanting "U" "S" "U" following player introductions, clapping until the opponent scores a basket, making noise during free throws and saying "swoosh," and actually singing the words to the "Aggie Fight Song" and the "Scotsman."

By Julie Ann Grosshans; jaug@cc.usu.edu
Photos by John Zsiray & Ryan Talbot