Fresno a hungry team

Remember that road trip Utah State took to New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech? Remember those two losses and the collective gnashing of teeth heard from Aggienation?

Well, as bad as those losses were, they came at the very beginning of the WAC schedule for USU and, as evidenced by the subsequent 3-0 sweep of games last week, the Aggies had time to rebound and climb back into the conference title hunt.

Fresno State, last weekend, took that same trip and, like USU, came home with nothing but a pair of losses to show for it. The difference, though, is that Fresno State started the swing with a spiffy 3-0 WAC record and was tied for first place with LaTech.

Now, the Bulldogs are wondering if they’re truly WAC title contenders.

Here’s a look at the mindset with ex-BYU coach Steve Cleveland’s team via the Fresno Bee. http://bit.ly/5T0csw

Beating the two-time defending WAC champs would be huge for FSU.

“It would help with our morale … get our whole confidence level going back up,” Paul George, a 6-8 sophomore swing man projected by many services as a first-round NBA raft pick, said. “Taking two losses kind of dropped us a little bit, but if we can win these two, we’ll be right where we wanted to be.”

Likewise, Utah State knows this is a huge game. The Aggies can maintain some momentum and stay in the hunt.

Cleveland said he’ll probably use a zone against USU. Trying to keep post players Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall from hurting them with their strong inside presence, while using the Bulldogs’ length and speed to contest Aggie 3-point shooters.

“I believe we need to continue to stay with the zone even when teams are scoring,” Cleveland said, “so we’re changing defenses and they’re not just getting comfortable in one offensive set.”
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I’ll be live tweeting the FSU/USU game.

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