Aggies dominate Nevada in wild night at the Spectrum
Defense and rebounding may be one of the biggest reasons the No. 21 Utah State Aggies continue to win basketball games. In front of a national audience on Wednesday, the Aggies proved once more that they can win even if they have an off-night offensively. Junior point-guard Brockeith Pane paced the Aggies with 18 points as they defeated the Nevada Wolf Pack for the second time this season, 67-45.
After a sluggish first half, the Aggies (20-2, 10-0) were able to bounce back and play with energy and passion in the second half to shut down the Pack (8-14, 5-4).
“We came out, played with a lot of energy in the second half,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said. “Just kind of had the doldrums in the first half, and feeling a little tired. We had a few dumb plays that lead to about seven points for them. It led to me not being in a really good mood at halftime.”
Two free-throws from Pane would give the Aggies their largest lead of the first half at 27-19 with less than five minutes to play, but the Pack would respond as they finished the half on a 9-2 run fueled by the Aggie turnovers and sloppy play.
“Coach kind of got into us at halftime and said that we weren’t playing with enough energy to be 21st in the country,” Pane said. “He kinda got into us and we played with more heart and more aggression. We played with more passion and we wanted it more.”
The Aggies stormed out of the gates at halftime with a 15-5 run spurred by a 3-pointer from senior forward Pooh Williams and capped by another 3-point basket from senior guard Brian Green. Green’s 3-point shot gave the Aggies an 11-point lead, and the Wolf Pack was never able to cut the lead back to single-digits.
“Our guys responded,” Morrill said. “We just needed to play with more fervor and more energy, and we did that. We defended better in the second half … rebounded the heck out of the ball. Those two areas have been real consistent for us, and hopefully that’ll continue. Some nights we shoot the ball better than others, and tonight we didn’t have a great shooting night. If you win by 20 not having a great shooting night, that’s OK. We held them to about 25 points below their average, so I was real happy with how hard we played.”
The Aggies finished the night shooting 41 percent from the field and 22 percent from 3-point land, but they limited the Wolf Pack to 32 percent shooting from the field and 11 percent shooting from long distance.
“Mainly, we helped each other,” Morrill said of the Aggies’ defense. “We played really hard and helped each other. When some guy drove down the lane, we rallied to the ball. We were just as active as could be defensively. That was fun to watch from a defensive perspective.”
True freshman point guard Deonte Burton led the Pack in scoring with 11 points, but he was the only player to reach double-figure scoring for the Pack. Sophomore forward Olek Czyz, sophomore guard Malik Story and junior forward Dario Hunt, who are all averaging nearly 14 points a game, finished the night with just seven points apiece. Both Czyz and Hunt experienced early foul trouble in the first half, but they were mostly ineffective in the second half even though they played more minutes.
“Utah State did a great job tonight of switching from man to zone, and really limited what we were able to do,” Wolf Pack head coach David Carter said. “I thought they did a really good job of doubling Dario Hunt, who was a big part of our game plan. We had a few of our players panic under pressure tonight, and we had individual players press the ball and try to create things on their own. I think that happened to Dario tonight.”
Just the like Aggies’ defense, their rebounding wasn’t great in the first half. The Pack actually held a 20-14 advantage at halftime.
“They were playing zone, and you have to make a team pay when they play zone,” Morrill said. “It’s really hard to block out. We didn’t make them pay in the first half, and in the second half we did. We had a lot of guys get offensive rebounds.”
The Aggies finished the game with a 42-33 rebounding edge. Junior forward Brady Jardine, who finished with 14 points, pulled down nine rebounds along with senior forward Tai Wesley.
With the Aggies’ recent rise in the polls, some have questioned whether the Aggies deserve their ranking. And with those questions circulating, the Aggies hope that with every game, especially those on national television, they will garner more respect for their team.
“I think during the second half we showed teams that we can really play, but it’s one game at a time,” Jardine said. “We’re just trying to keep it rolling. I think with each game we’ll make a little bit more of a statement that we’re for real. I think in the second half, with the energy and defense; I hope people at home saw that we’re a legitimate team and that we can play with anybody.”
The Aggies will get another chance to extend their winning streaks when they face the Boise State Broncos on Saturday. That game is set to tip at 7 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
-ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu