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"Last time we played them, they basically carved us up."
That is about as nicely as Stew Morrill could have put it in his Tuesday press conference. When the teams last met, 4 Pioneers scored in double figures, led by Brett Olson's 18; and they shot over 50 percent from the field, including a blistering 53 percent from long range.
"Going into that game is when we lost Preston and Kyisean, and we were kind of lost in the headlights," junior guard TeNale Roland said.
This time around, the team is much more prepared for what they need to do.
"When we first played, some guys hadn't been on the floor that long," Spencer Butterfield said. "Now they're getting 30 minutes a night. We're more comfortable and more confident on the floor."
"From a purist stand point, when you watch them, you have to appreciate what they do," Morrill added.
What they do, is execute an offense that is ranked 19th in the nation in field goal percentage; and like Utah State, they love to use every second of the shot clock to do it.
Last time we played them, they basically carved us up.
–Stew Morrill
"They like to take it all the way down," Roland said. "You have to play defense the whole possession."
Butterfield knows they struggled with that in their last meeting and is a big reason they lost the game.
"We gave up 16 points in the last 5 seconds (of the shot clock)," Butterfield said. "They're going to be patient, we need to be ready to play defense for 35 seconds."
Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm, you can watch it locally on KMYU.
