<strong>LOGAN–</strong> Utah State men’s basketball head coach Stew Morrill announced Friday that Viko Noma’aea (Vee-ko No-mo-A-uh) has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Aggies in the 2013-14 season.
Noma’aea is a 6-1, 180-pound combination guard from Las Vegas, Nev., where he was a two-year starter at Sierra Vista Mountain High School, and is joining USU after serving his LDS Church Mission in Paris, France. At Sierra Vista, Noma’aea was a two-time first-team all-Nevada State Class 4A honoree, as well as earning first-team all-region and all-Sunset-Southwest League honors. As a senior, he averaged 17.7 points, 5.3 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game, helping the Mountain Lions to the state semifinal appearance.
“Viko has all the guard skills to be successful at the Division I level,” Morrill said. “He shoots, penetrates and passes the ball very well. He is also confident in his abilities, which is an important quality for a young player. We are delighted to have Viko join our program.”
Noma’aea netted 20-plus points in 13 games his senior season, including two over 30, highlighted by season-high 35. He also recorded 17 games with five or more assists, including two with double-figure helpers, paced by season-high 11. Noma’aea also had two games with double-digit rebounds, highlighted by season-high 11 boards. In his junior season, Noma’aea tallied 27 points, seven assists and eight rebounds per game.
Utah State finished the 2012-13 season with a 21-10 overall record and an 11-7 league ledger in its eighth and final season in the Western Athletic Conference. USU is one of just five teams in the country to win at least 21 games in each of the past 14 seasons along with Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, and Syracuse. Furthermore, it is the 23rd time in school history that USU has won 20 or more games in a season.
USU will join the Mountain West Conference officially on July 1, 2013. Utah State won 48 of its last 62 WAC games (.770) and was 74-22 (.768) against teams from the WAC during the last six seasons. Overall, the Aggies posted 94-34 (.732) regular-season WAC record in their eight years in the league. Utah State leaves the league with four WAC regular-season championships in the last six years as part of USU’s eight years in the league.
The Aggies shared the 2008 title with Boise State, Nevada and New Mexico State as all four teams had 12-4 league records, before winning the 2009 and 2010 WAC titles with identical 14-2 conference records, and the 2011 WAC Championship after going 15-1. Prior to USU’s run, Nevada won five straight regular season WAC titles from 2004-08.