Spread: UTA -6.5
Moneyline: UTA -290, IDS +240
Tip off: 9 PM EST
UTAH STATE
To say that Utah State dominated the WAC would be a pretty gross understatement. Utah State posted a 15-1 in conference record, though that regular season success was tempered by the loss to Kansas State in the opening round in March. Still, consider their conference dominance: The Aggies scored 1.11 points per possession while giving up only 0.89. That means of course a lot of blowout wins for the Aggies.
They had a good share of transfer students last season. They brought in Brockeith Pane, a strong bodied point guard who can get to the rim and finish. He hit 51% of his twos, and also frequently got to the line and created for teammates. He shot only 21% from three last season, though, but he shot 37% his last year at JUCO, so it seems that he should be capable of doing a lot better than 21%. A three point shot is a three point shot, essentially. Thus far, he has more or less split the difference, shooting 27.3% from downtown. That figure must improve because this is a team that lacks bombers.
Brady Jardine should help a lot, because he picked up 26% of opponents missed shots and 12% of the offensive boards as well. So far, in three games played, Jardine is averaging 7.7 boards per game in only 24 minutes of play. Couple that with the 6’7 senior’s 7.7 points per game and it makes for a decent stat line. Don’t expect NBA scouts to come knocking down Jardine’s door, but he has some skills that should enable him to be an effective forward in the WAC. Morgan Grim has been the other great contributor offensively and is averaging 13.8 points per game while also being second on the team in rebounds per game with 7.0
IDAHO STATE
Last season was a horrendous one for Idaho State. The Bengals finshed with a 9-20 overall record, while going 4-12 in Big Sky play and failing to qualfy for Big Sky Tournament play, nor of course landing in any other post season tournaments. The team is usually filled out with JUCO transfers and it usually leads to poor team defense, due to players only being around in the program for one or two seasons. UCF transfer Jakub Kusmieruk is expected to at least be a good side show. The 7’4″ Polish gentle giant is averaging 7.8 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. But who doesn’t want to come to a game and be able to say they saw someone that was 7’4″?
Ostensibly, you could say the Bengals have three good scorers in Chase Grabau, Andre Hatchett, and Melvin Morgan, but they only score because some one has to. The Bengals are 1-3, but have been in all of their games except the loss to North Dakota. The trio is averaging 34 points per game, over 46% of Idaho State’s offensive output. Grabau puzzingly shot 8 threes against Loyola Marymount after not shooting any threes for back to back games. It’s a good thing he made the decision to shoot them because he nailed half of them en route to his season high of 22 points. The Bengals lost the game by 3, but it was a game they could hang their hats on, at least for the time being, and provide some glimmer of hope that they can at least make the Conference Tournament this season.
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