Utah State hasn’t given up on 2011-12 season yet
After back-to-back lackluster performances at home featuring offensive woes in a win over Montana Tech and a loss to University of California, Santa Barbara, the Utah State men’s basketball team could have easily given up on the rest of the season.
That wasn’t the case on Senior Night against the Idaho Vandals. Despite trailing by 15 points with four minutes remaining in the second half, USU rallied to clinch the 67-50 win on an emotionally charged night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday.
“It is always interesting when you are going through a tough spell — everybody has you not winning another game and all of those kind of things,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “And I am proud of our guys for finding a way to win on Senior Night. It was a good deal.”
USU has struggled in close games and coming back from double-digit deficits, but that changed against Idaho.
“Our frame of mind was good,” Morrill said. “Even when we got down in the first half and things were ugly — it looked like we could get beat by 20 — we just hung in there. That’s what you’ve got to do. You can’t throw in the towel.”
USU rallied for a comeback win over Idaho, and, for 24 minutes, the Aggies arguably played their best game of the season.
“They did a nice job executing their offense,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “I thought they did a good job of getting Medlin the ball. Medlin stepped up like the player he is. We made a few mistakes in our defensive coverages and boom, they get ahead, they get the momentum and, with this crowd, that’s how it goes.”
USU hit a low percentage in the first half, but turned things around in the second and held an 87 shooting percentage for 10 minutes of the second half.
“Guys were making shots,” Morrill said. “We had to put some new stuff, because I don’t run much of our stuff (against Idaho). We got some looks of it and it helped. Guys made shots, that was the main thing.”
USU utilized its speed to run the fast break, which was often fueled by solid defense. USU forced Idaho to turn the ball over 11 times and allowed the Vandals to shoot 30 percent overall and 14 percent from 3-point range.
“That starts on defense,” USU senior forward Morgan Grim said. We just turned it up a little bit, and I think that carried over into the offense.”
Morrill and the Aggies have focused on positivity and staying upbeat during the past couple of days and during halftime.
“We were very positive,” Morrill said. “‘We were going to find a way to win this game. We’re going to guard like we can. We’re going to make shots. We’re getting good shots, we’ll make shots — that’s what we talked about at half. It was a positive approach. They were positive with each other, and it worked tonight.”
That positivity may carry on the road and into the WAC Tournament.
“We’ve shown we can play with anybody, it’s just been about consistency,” Grim said. “If we can get a consistent vibe going through our team, anything is possible. We can play with any team in the league, that’s for sure.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu