Holiday basketball

We are very excited to play in our three day tournament! This tournament is a very big deal for us coming off a bad loss at Long Beach. We want to get that bad taste out of our mouth and get better and win some games! Three games in three days is a wonderful thing as a basketball player. As an athlete, it does not get much better. A big reason that the tournament is important is because it prepares us to play three games in three days later in the year at the WAC tournament. Learning how to do our game-plan in one day, and playing with a little fatigue must be learned during the tournament. We have three quality teams that are in the tournament this year and it will be a real test for us to play well and to get the wins! We are excited to play basketball at this wonderful time of year.

Merry Christmas!!

-Tyler Newbold

Wins, a loss and learning

With three straight on the road we were so pumped to come back to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for a season-long five-game homestand. We started out with comfortable wins against Idaho State and Southern Utah.

On December 2, BYU came into town with an undefeated record. All the students and fans at the Spectrum were eager to welcome our rivals from the south as some students camped outside the night before to make sure they got the best seats. At 2:30 as I was driving to our team dinner I noticed the enormous line that was developing outside the Spectrum. It was an incredible sight to see. The game was great as we pulled away from BYU in the late moments of the game. The atmosphere in the Spectrum was electric and its something I will never forget. The winning team, losing team at the end of the game was spectacular!!

A few nights later we welcomed a good Saint Mary's team into the Spectrum. The Spectrum showed up in full force again as the noise was LOUD!! The game was tight the whole way. Key free throw line errors and missed assignments cost us the game as Saint Mary's beat us. It was a very tough loss. We have had a full week of practice to learn from our

mistakes and to get better as a team!! We are excited to play again this Saturday against another in-state team in Utah Valley.

-Tyler Newbold

On the Road & Now Ready for Tough Teams

We had two tough games on the road at Northeastern and at Utah. We played great for 33-35 minutes in both games and its too bad that a five minute stretch in both games cost us. We need to learn from those games and know that we can't have any lapses like that anymore. In Boston we were able to go a day early and we were able to take a tour of the city and learn more about its history. The arena we played in was pretty cool. It was the original home of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics. It is also the oldest ice hockey arena in the United States.

Following that road trip we have been excited to return home for a bunch of games. We played really hard in our wins against Idaho State and Southern Utah. The first week of December brings two games that will bring the toughest competition we have had in the Spectrum this year. Both BYU and Saint Mary's are great teams that are off to great starts this season. We are excited to see where we stand against teams like this and we are excited for the atmosphere for these games. Go AGGIES!
-Tyler Newbold

This Week's Update

The Start of the Season...
We beat a good Weber State team on the road Friday. We did not play great
but we did play hard and kept Weber to a low shooting percentage. It was
such a fun game to start out the season. The 'Spectrum on Wheels' was in
full-force as we had a huge showing. The atmosphere was awesome and we were
able to come out with the win.

This Week...
This week we will be on the road Tuesday through Saturday as we have games
at Utah on Wednesday and at Northeastern University on Saturday. We
appreciate the treatment we get on the road.

Insight Into Aggie Game Day...
For all of you who wonder what we do when we are on the road for games, here
is a typical game day for us.

We wake up around 8:30 or 9:00 on game days. We then usually have a
breakfast buffet in the hotel we are staying at. After we are done eating
breakfast, we go straight to get taped for our shoot around at the arena. We
then have a conference room in the hotel where we watch about a half hour of
film on the opposing team. After we are done watching film we board the bus
and go to our shoot around. The shoot around usually lasts a little over an
hour. We do a lot of shooting drills and we do a lot of playing defense
against the scout team. The scout team does a great job of running the
opposing teams plays. During shoot around is when we fill out the ticket
list for people we want to come to the game. After shoot around we go back
to the hotel. We usually have time to take a shower and relax for an hour or
so before we have our pre-game meal. Pre-game meal is usually around 2:30 or
3:00. After we stuff ourselves full of food, we have a few hours before we
have to get dressed and ready to go to the arena. Most players will take a
short nap and relax before we get ready to go. We then leave and arrive at
the arena usually an hour before game time. After we play and hopefully win,
we then board the bus. A lot of times we will have food on the bus after the
game. Coach Beckert is in charge of keeping us fed on road trips and we
appreciate him a ton!!

-Tyler Newbold

Trinity Western Game

The Trinity Western game this past week was fun to play in. As players we must understand that the regular season is right around the corner and we needed to improve in our second game. The first half went very well and we played pretty good defense. The second half was not nearly as good as Trinity Western played a different defense which we did not adjust well to.
With three road games to start this season we must learn how to compete for a full 40 minutes. We had a lot of good things happen from this last exhibition and things we must tune up before we head down to Ogden to face a good Weber State team.

This next week we must have a good week of practice. Being a veteran on this team I know how difficult it is to win on the road. We must execute precisely and stay together when bad things happen in order to have a chance to win. Practice concentration is always important but even more at the beginning part of the year as we are learning new offensive sets and defensive schemes so that we can be prepared to face tough opponents. We are so excited to go down to Ogden on Friday night and to play well!!!

-Tyler Newbold

First game vs. Northwest Nazarene

We played Northwest Nazarene on Friday and it was fun! It was awesome to play somebody else because it gets old beating each other up in practice everyday. We shot well on offense but we still have a lot of work to do with the timing and execution of our plays. Defensively, we have plenty to work on. We must rebound a lot better and not get beat off the dribble on the perimeter as much.

We play our first three real games on the road and we must be better in those areas if we want to win. With another week of practice coming up we surely will get a lot better in these areas! While we do have a lot to work on, there are many positives and we are getting better everyday! We were so excited to have over 8,000 people to our first exhibition game. The support we get is incredible!!

-Tyler Newbold

New team locker room

We had a fun week of practice this week leading up to our first game!! Before I talk about that, let me mention how amazing our new team locker room is. It is an incredible upgrade from the past. The furniture just got put in on Friday and the room looks great. We are so thankful to the past players and individuals who donated time and money to help build it.

More pictures of what the locker room looks like can be found
http://www.utahstateaggies.com/school-bio/ust-spectrum.html.

-Tyler Newbold

The Season Has Begun

The first full week of practice is now in the books and we have practiced
hard. We have a lot of work to do and must continue to concentrate and pay
attention to everything the coaches are teaching us with great detail.
Division I basketball is very competitive and we are learning to concentrate
and do the little things that separate good teams from great teams. This is
a very fun time of year as we learn how to play with each other and utilize
our individual strengths within our team system.

With the public scrimmage on Wednesday and our first exhibition game on
Friday, we are so excited for the challenge of the upcoming season. We
understand that we have a huge bulls-eye on our back this year and we are
ready to tackle the task. The basketball season is fast approaching and the
team is looking forward to playing at a high level!!

We hope everyone that is able to will come to the Spectrum this year. We
appreciate everyone who comes and helps us have the best home court
advantage in the country!!

-Tyler Newbold

Pre-Season

Following a close loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament, all of the players have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new basketball season.
We have worked hard all summer in the weight room and on the court to improve our team. Most of the team was in Logan all summer which has helped our chemistry as a team before the season officially starts. With a lot of talent and experience returning and the arrival of talented freshmen and junior college transfers we are looking forward to having a fun season.

We are excited to begin a new season and start working in practice to become
a good team. We have a lot of work to do to be where we want to be, but with
great coaching and maximum effort given by all players we should play at a
high level. Excitement is in the air and the team can't wait for the
Spectrum to be rocking again like it is every year. Believe it or not,
basketball season is here!!

-Tyler Newbold