Ags on winning track, cut down the nets
Sometimes, things are much, much sweeter when you don’t have to share them.
One year removed from splitting the regular conference championship with three other teams, USU locked up the title all for itself Thursday night with an 82-62 victory over Hawaii.
It was the Aggies’ first outright title since the 1999-2000 season when they were members of the Big West.
“We have had a lot of ties for first but that is the first outright one we have won in a while,” said USU head coach Stew Morrill. “For me, the conference regular season will always be what you play for, you play two and a half months for that.”
On a night that was filled with spectacular shots, monstrous blocks and a topless Bill Sproat, it was only fitting that the loudest cheer came when seldom-used junior Clint Lee scored – it was his first field goal of the season.
“I haven’t got more excited all year then when I saw Clint score,” Tyler Newbold said. “It was something that we all wanted to see … he brings it every day in practice and he helps the team a lot.”
Newbold can also be added to the list of those that help the team.
After struggling mightily during the past few games, the sophomore connected on his first two attempts from the field and seemed to regain his rhythm. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting and also pulled down nine rebounds.
“Tyler Newbold does everything that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet,” said senior Gary Wilkinson said. “He makes this team 100 percent better because of his intensity in practice and everything else he does. I love playing with Tyler Newbold.”
After his performance Thursday, Wilkinson’s teammates surely reciprocate those feelings about him.
“Big Red” returned to form as he scored layup after layup to lead all scorers with 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting. Not one to focus on a single area, USU’s lone senior also snagged two steals, dished out two assists and pulled down seven boards just for good measure.
“I think a lot of people thought we were in a slump or something, so I said to the team, let’s go show them what we’re capable of,” Wilkinson said. “Everyone took hold of that and came out with some intensity tonight.”
The Aggies used that intensity to jump out to a 10-point lead midway through the first half, and they never looked back.
“I thought Utah State played extremely well,” said Hawaii head coach Bob Nash. “It’s a great environment for them and they took care of business – unfortunately for us, it happened to be against us.”
At the intermission, the Aggies held a comfortable 13-point lead, despite the Warriors hitting more than 50 percent of their shots – Hawaii’s problem, was they just didn’t get very many. The Aggies outrebounded Hawaii by six and forced them into nine turnovers in the opening period, which led to 13 more attempts for the home team.
It could have been the impending conference championship, it could have been energy from the Spectrum crowd or it could have been the Ags wishing to wash a bad taste out of their mouth. Regardless of the reason, USU smelled blood in the second half, and there was no letting off the throttle.
“We just kind of lost our mojo, so to speak, we kind of lost our intensity and our fire and we just had to come out and find it and get it back,” Wilkinson said. “Hopefully we’ve got our intensity back and now we can take that step in the right direction so when we get teams down we can keep it there and keep it going and not let up.”
Morrill was also pleased with his team’s effort.
“We played with a lot of energy tonight,” he said. “That is as much energy as we have had in awhile and that is what we needed to get back.”
Behind strong interior play the Aggies extended the lead to as much as 25 on a layup by Stavon Williams with 11 minutes left.
With just more than two minutes to play Morrill cleared the bench and the celebration started – once the final buzzer sounded and the 20-point win was in the books, it began in earnest.
With chants of “MVP” in the background, Wilkinson started the cutting of the net and one by one, each player and coach joined in. Finally, the jubilation could be contained no longer; the student section rushed the court and engulfed the newly-crowned champions.
Despite already wrapping up the regular season conference championship, the Aggies still have plenty of work ahead of them. USU has two regular season games left, and Saturday’s matchup at Nevada will pose another tough test on the road for the Ags.
“Now we have to go to Nevada with our heads on straight and try to get a win there,” Wilkinson said. “We don’t have much time to prepare, but we’ve just got to go for it … Nevada is definitely on our minds.”
The Aggies have already beaten the Wolf Pack once this year, dispatching of them 72-61 back on Jan. 29. With USU wrapping up the regular season title, Nevada would no doubt like to remind the Ags who the conference power has traditionally been.
“We know what we’re in for at Nevada – you don’t just waltz in there and not play well and have any chance to win,” Morrill said.
For tonight, however, it’s time to celebrate – at 13-1 in conference play, the Aggies have earned that much.
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu