Tonight's game against Denver looks on paper like a bit of a blast from the past. And I mean that in the sense that Denver's team seems to resemble USU teams of the past in many ways. They've got decent size and decent athleticism, but are very talented at playing basketball, and that's what carries them. They shoot the ball well, keep turnovers low and play solid defense.
What to really make of them is tough at this point seeing as how they thoroughly handled Saint Mary's (who beat Weber State) last week and beat Southern Miss (who beat New Mexico State) the week before that. Then in their last game they got pounded by Cal.
Last year's game against Denver was much more of a nail biter than most people in Aggie blue expected. They were automatic at times from deep, hardly turned the ball over, and kept all three of Tai Wesley, Pooh Williams and Tyler Newbold pretty well grounded. Most of the impact guys from that Denver team return this year too.
Brian Stafford and Chris Udofia are the two-headed monster for the Pioneers, both averaging better than 14 points per game and both shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Stafford is also a 50 percent 3-point shooter. Each of Denver's top four scorers are stellar free throw shooters as well, and each of them are good enough to get a fair amount of attempts per game.
For the Aggies, both Brockeith Pane and Brady Jardine were huge in last years game, which is halfway awesome that both of those guys are back. Ben Clifford is still penciled in to start Wednesday night, which means Jardine is likely still out. Not having Kyisean Reed either is a double-down of suck, since Denver's biggest weakness this year has been rebounding, where they average almost nine fewer boards per game than their opponents. Both Jardine and Reed are elite rebounders and likely could have ruthlessly dominated that aspect of the game. Instead, that's what would have been a major advantage for USU turned to just a minor one.
Clifford is far from a hack on rebounding, and actually has looked pretty excellent so far, but Jardine and Reed (JaReed we'll call them for the rest of this preview) are elite in that department.
Given Denver's lack of real size in the middle, now would be as good a time as ever for Morgan Grim to go back into Texas A&M-Corpus Christi F-you Mode (TAMCCFYM). The Reaper has been solid all year, and if he hasn't been solid, he's been spectacular. Now would be a very good time to be spectacular.
A big game from Pane, especially in drawing fouls, would also go a long way. Denver has height, but few teams have the lateral athleticism to cut off a guy like Pane, and I don't think Denver is one of those teams.
And of course, if Preston Medlin and Adam Thoseby can give us an encore performance of the wrath they inflicted upon Idaho State, USU should win this one easy if Grim and Pane can dominate too. But that kind of performance is something you can't expect to repeat, and perimeter defense from the wings will be just as crucial as how much they do on the offensive end. A Pooh-esque performance from Steve Thornton wouldn't upset me one bit.
Really, everything indicates that tonight is going to be one hell of a battle. Denver doesn't exactly boast a strong reputation really, but this team looks to be for real. There's little doubt that Stew will have the boys ready, so hopefully The Spectrum is in BHD-mode once again and is ready to bring the pain.
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