Vandals, Aggies collide

The move into the WAC has been tough on the Idaho men’s basketball team. It hasn’t been a picnic for Utah State, either.

The Aggies (16-6, 7-4) are still in the title chase, but the fact that they have four conference losses “tells you what we’re dealing with,” Idaho coach Leonard Perry said. “If that team is in the Big West, I don’t think they’d have a loss right now. That’s the level of competition we’ve jumped into.”

Idaho (4-17, 1-9) entertains the Aggies tonight at 7 at the Cowan Spectrum.

Utah State put up 53 second-half points in an 83-58 victory over the visiting Vandals in mid-January.

The Vandals have recently shown glimpses of improvement. They earned their first WAC win over Fresno State and sophomore forward Mike Kale has posted consecutive career-high point totals.

“Over the last four or five games Mike has played really well,” Perry said. “Desmond (Nwoke) is gradually making progress and defensively we have no one else that can get above the rim and rebound the ball. I’d like to get (freshman forward) David Dubois back on track.”