Successful senior night
The USU men’s basketball team sent its seniors out in style on Wednesday in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum with a 65-54 win over Wyoming. The win gave the Aggies their seventh conference win of the season and their second straight win heading into the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas.
“I think it’s huge,” said senior guard Spencer Butterfield about the two-game win streak to end the regular season. “We’ve got a lot of confidence as a team right now. We’re playing really well together, and I think it will carry over into the Mountain West Tournament.”
For the first time this season, the starting five for the Aggies were the five seniors. Tenale Roland, Preston Medlin, Butterfield, Sean Harris and Jarred Shaw each played the first 8:42 of the game. It was Harris’ first career start for the Aggies, and he would have four points in that span.
The Aggies shot just 28.6 from the 3-point line, but with 11:40 left to play in the game a Roland 3-pointer rolled in to give the Aggies a one-point lead. The Aggies would not trail again.
“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from three, but we made some big ones,” said USU head coach Stew Morrill. “We hit timely threes, and that certainly helped.”
Shaw, Butterfield, Kyle Davis and Roland all scored in double digits, and Shaw led all Aggie scorers with 14 points.
USU out-rebounded Wyoming by a margin of 20, with Shaw and Davis combining for 24 rebounds.
“That’s huge,” Morrill said. “We always emphasize pounding the boards. In a close game, that always helps.”
The Aggies finish their regular season 7-11 in conference and 17-13 overall on the season. Meanwhile, Wyoming finishes season on a four-game losing streak and is winless without star player Larry Nance Jr.
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