Tai Wesley's facemask

Utah State’s Tai Wesley is wearing his mask — reluctantly.

The 6-foot-7 power forward said earlier he would only wear the mask if he was ordered to by his coach, trainers and team doctor.

Apparently the law has come down and Wesley, like it or not, will wear the mask during Friday afternoon’s game against Texas A&M.

Sporting a pair of shiners, Wesley was holding the mask as the Aggies took to the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena floor for practice. I asked him if he planned on wearing the mask in the game and with a look that clearly said “Only because I have to,” he replied in the affirmative.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said.

And he went out and promptly threw down a two-handed dunk on his first layup of the practice session.

As the practice session closed, USU coach Stew Morrill ran the Aggies through a half-court shooting drill.

Wesley, who hit nothing but net on a buzzer beater from half court against Boise State last year, fittingly finished off Thursday afternoon’s practice with a shot that hit a little of the back rim, but nestled through the net.

Leaving the court, Wesley grabbed his facemask from the scorers’ table after being reminded to not forget it.

“I wish I could forget it,” he said. “Maybe in a couple of weeks.”