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That was the message Aggie men’s head basketball coach Stew Morrill had for his junior forward following Friday night’s 85-51 exhibition win over Northwestern Nazarene. Bendall scored the team’s first two points on a pair of free throws and went on to match teammate Tai Wesley with a game-best 17 points.
“We’re glad to have you back,” said Morrill when talking about Bendall in the postgame press conference. “I always knew Nate was a good player. I remember watching him when he was in high school. I turned to my assistant during warmups and said, ‘we want him.’
“I hadn’t even watched him play a game yet, but you could see his hands, long arms and his feel for the game. It’s nice to have him back in an Aggie uniform.”
Bendall spent the 2005-06 season at Utah State and saw action in 13 games as a true freshman, averaging 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds a game. He left to serve an LDS Church mission in Nauvoo, Ill. Last year Bendall played at Salt Lake Community College, helping lead the Bruins to the NJCAA National Championship.
But now he is back in Logan and couldn’t be happier playing in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
“It’s awesome,” Bendall said. “You couldn’t ask for better fans, seriously. Best fans in the state,
darn-near best fans in the nation as far as I’m concerned. They are on the opposing team for every single minute and every play. It was just a phenomenal crowd.”
And they were cheering for No. 35 as he had a perfect night shooting the ball. Bendall was 7-for-7 from the field and 3-for-3 from the foul line. While he nodded and smiled when asked about his shooting, he was more concerned with rebounding.
“One of the key things is rebounding,” Bendall said. “They (Crusaders) sent all their guys to the boards. Rebounding is one of the things we needed to focus on tonight and get better at. I don’t know the margin at the end, but we need to board the ball better.”
The Aggies trailed Northwest Nazarene for most of the game in the rebounding department, but ended up edging the Division II school 38-36. Bendall and point guard Jared Quayle each had a team-best six boards.
While rebounding is certainly a major concern for Morrill, he was pleased with how Bendall played, especially on the offensive end. The junior is taking over for Western Athletic Conference MVP Gary Wilkinson, who graduated. Wilkinson led the Aggies in scoring (17.1) and rebounding (6.8) a year ago.
“It certainly looked like it tonight,” answered Morrill, when asked about Bendall being another scoring post. “He just scooped up everything we threw to him. That’s the No. 1 thing I have looked for in big guys, is their hands. They can turn a so-so pass into a good pass. Nate has excellent hands and big, broad shoulders. We just need to keep him healthy, keep everybody healthy. He has the potential to score down there for sure, that would be good with us losing a pretty good scorer (Wilkinson) in the low post.”
Bendall didn’t score on anything fancy, mostly just layups after getting good position and getting solid passes from a variety of spots. He also had two assists, blocked a shot and came up with a steal in 17 minutes of action. Bendall did not turn the ball over Friday night.
Wesley, who received a good pass from Bendall and dished out an assist to his new forward teammate, is excited to play with another talented big man after spending the last two seasons with Wilkinson.
“It is easy to play with Nate, he is such a great player,” Wesley said. “He’s been in the system before. He had that year up here before he left on his mission. He is definitely an easy guy to play with and a big target. He is a big body and easy to throw the ball to, so that is nice.”
The 6-foot-9 forward from Salt Lake City took a big step Friday night in filling some big shoes left by Wilkinson.
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