The Long Beach State men’s basketball team will look to do something it hasn’t done all season when it faces Utah State in Logan, Utah, today at 6:05 p.m.: win three straight games.
Oh and by the way, the 49ers (5-4) will have to do it against an Aggies team that holds a serious home-court advantage. USU (5-2) has won 17 consecutive games, and 69 of its last 71, at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Prior to the Aggies’ last home loss, which came against Saint Mary’s (68-63) on Dec. 5, 2009, they were in the midst of a 37-game winning streak. Both of USU’s losses this season have come at the hands of two ranked teams, Brigham Young and Georgetown, while LBSU has lost its only two contests to ranked opponents.
The Beach might have an advantage, however, as T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware combined for 44 points in a 75-62 win over the Aggies at the Walter Pyramid last December.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson said after that game that it was his team’s best all-around effort up until that point in the season.
“I really was proud of our guys taking a game plan and executing it,” Monson said. “Your only chance against a team like that is to disrupt them and frustrate them. … We had them frustrated enough that we had them doing things they don’t normally do.”
The 49ers held the Aggies, who ranked 24th in the nation in 3-pointers at the time, to just four 3-point baskets in 20 attempts in last season’s contest.
Ware finished the game with 19 points to cap off his impressive night on both offense and defense.
“[Ware] gave us fits last year in the open court and when he was coming off ball-screens,” Aggies head coach Stew Morrill said in a release Monday. “It has been amazing the number of point guards we have seen that have been so talented, and here we have another one. We have to do a good job on him individually, but we have to give a lot of help.”
The Aggies head into the game with four players averaging more than 10 points and are led by Tai Wesley’s 14.3 average. The senior forward led USU with 22 points in last season’s matchup after converting 10 of his 12 shots from the field.
USU has had just two days of rest since falling to No. 9 Georgetown (Associated Press Top 25), 68-51, on Saturday. Meanwhile, the 49ers will be playing their third game in six days, but are coming off back-to-back wins over BYU-Hawaii and Boise State.
“I would certainly like to have more time to prepare,” Morrill said. “I worried about this game after playing Saturday afternoon on the East Coast, we didn’t get back until it was late. [LBSU] did play last night, but we had a five-day, long, lengthy road trip and we have to bounce back in a hurry.
“If we are out there tired or worn down it is going to be a long night. We are going to need to have some energy.”
He’s on fire
LBSU senior Greg Plater has been on a hot shooting streak of late, scoring a combined 43 points in the 49ers’ last two games to go with an 11-for-18 clip from 3-point range.
His hot hand has also garnered the 6-foot-1 Oregon native the top spot in the nation’s list of 3-pointers made. Plater has knocked down 34 shots from behind the arc to put him one ahead of College of Charleston guard Andrew Goudelock’s 33.
After its meeting with the Aggies, The Beach will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., for a meeting with the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday at 4 p.m. UNC, who handed No. 10 Kentucky a 75-73 loss last Saturday, will take on Evansville on Wednesday.
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