Ute basketball ‘stun and shock’ Ags
There is no denying Utah State basketball Head Coach Stew Morrill is an honest man. Whether it is an Aggie victory or loss, the fourth-year USU coach will tell it like it is.
Such was the case Wednesday following Utah State’s 56-45 loss to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
“They are bigger, they are stronger and they are better,” Morrill said. “You can say what you want, but it’s not like we are suppose to just come in [to the Huntsman Center] and dominate, let’s be honest. We were never in a position to have a chance to win. I thought the score at the end was pretty deceiving. I thought they beat us a lot worse than the score indicates.”
No matter what the score, for Utah it was simply nice to pick up a victory. The Utes hadn’t defeated the Aggies since 1999 and were trying to get back on a role after losing to Texas Tech 65-64 and getting blown out by Connecticut 76-44 at the Preseason NIT last week in New York City.
The difference between those two contest and the one against Utah State?
“Attitude,” said Utah Head Coach Rick Majerus. “I think we’ve made a big jump. We came back and did what sports is all about and got up off the mat.”
Andrew Bogut and Nick Jacobson led the Utes with 12 points apiece, and Richard Chaney chipped in 10.
Spencer Nelson was the only Aggie to record double digits with 11, while Mike Ahmad and Jason Williams added nine points each.
“In the second half things turned around for me,” Ahmad said. “[Coach Morrill] talked to me and let me know that the first two exhibition games we had I was there playing and the last couple of games I hadn’t been a presence. It just hit me and I began
playing.”
After his 20-point, 13-assist performance against Illinois State, Utah State’s Mark Brown failed to score in 32 minutes of action.
The Aggies shot a mere 29.2 percent from the field in the first half, and improved to 44 percent during the second half. USU finished the game shooting 36.7 percent.
“It was one of those nights on the road because Utah made it one of those nights,” Morrill said. “We were just throwing shots up because we were intimidated and we were a little bit of the cause and they were a lot of the cause. It was like we didn’t even dare make a play because they were so big.”
Ahmad said, “Guys on our team just thought they were bigger than us and they were afraid to take it to the
basket.”
The Utes’ roster does not include a player who is shorter than 6 feet tall, and most of the players weigh over 200 pounds. The Aggies, on the other hand, have three players who are shorter than 6 feet tall.
Morrill said the Utes simply stunned and shocked the Aggies.
The Aggies struggled early and the Utes took advantage of it. Three consecutive 3-pointers helped the Utes extend their lead as Chaney, Justin Hawkins and then Chaney again hit from behind the arc to give Utah a 23-8 advantage with less than seven minutes to go in the first half.
Chaney’s second trey came as the shot clock expired, something that was typical of the Utes.
“It was just one of those nights,” Williams said, “It was just hard. It was a hard game.”
Morrill said, “They must have had five shots they made at the end of the shot clock and we must have had six baskets that looked like they were going in and rolled off. That happens when you’re the aggressor. They were the aggressor, they were the physical ones so everything kind of went their way on those situations.”
The Utes led 35-16 at the break. It was the biggest deficit for the Aggies since trailing by 20 points four years ago against the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The Utes also came out on top 77-42 in that game.
Wednesday’s contest may have been just what the doctor ordered, though – or at least it was what Morrill thought the team needed.
“I’ve told them for a while that they probably needed to get their asses kicked and they did,” Morrill said. “Sometimes you just have to do that to learn what it takes.”
After taking nine days off from games to concentrate on finals, the Aggies will travel to Idaho State (Dec. 13) before hosting Jackson State (Dec. 18) and BYU (Dec. 23).
The Aggies are looking to rebound from the 63-57 loss to Jackson State last season in Mississippi. The loss last year also carried over to the BYU contest when Utah State fell 66-56 in Provo.
The Gossner Foods Classic (Dec. 29-30) will see possibly the most competitive schedule as San Francisco, New Mexico State and UT-San Antonio come to Logan.
The meeting with UTSA is the first in the series.
The Aggies will begin Big West Conference action Jan. 3 against Idaho in the Spectrum.
“We have a big break and we just need to practice every day and get better,” Williams said. “That is all we’ve got to do – practice and get better.”
-juag@cc.usu.edu
University of Utah´s Nick Jacobson tries to make it past Utah State´s Mark Brown. The Aggies lost 56-45 Wednesday in Salt Lake City. (Photo by John Zsiray)