Ags cruise to win over Nevada
Utah State jumped out to an early 17-4 lead Saturday night at home against the Nevada Wolf Pack and never looked back as they led the whole way, recording a 77-63 victory. Utah State now improves its conference-leading record to 6-1 (16-6 overall).
Utah State’s quick start was in response to last weekend’s 30-point loss at New Mexico State. Senior guard and team leader Jaycee Carroll spoke of how the entire team worked hard this week to improve.
“All of us that were there, and those of us that weren’t there, all took it upon us to have a good week of practice,” Carroll said. “We practiced hard. We got things better where we were just horrible against New Mexico State.”
Head coach Stew Morrill was pleased with the way his team responded.
“We responded pretty well. It was a good outing, great crowd, nice for us to be at home,” Morrill said.
Big man Gary Wilkinson, who Morrill said played his best game as an Aggie, just wanted to get the taste of losing that bad out of his mouth.
“Coming off a 30-point loss, it’s hard to not be focused. You got to get that taste out of mouth,” Wilkinson said. “We came out with a lot of intensity.”
The quick Aggie start was propelled by Carroll, as he came out aggressively and scored 17 points in the first half, 15 of those in the first 13 minutes of play. For the game, Carroll ended up with 24 points. The senior also pulled down four boards and dished out two assist in 39 minutes of play.
“I came out a little more aggressive, I felt like. Teams, the way they have been guarding me, I have kind of just been waiting for things to come, and tonight I came out with a real aggressive mind set,” Carroll said. “Rather than take what they give me, I tried to take what I wanted.”
Carroll also spoke of how the entire team wanted to come out and be aggressive and take control of the game.
“We came out and controlled the game from the tipoff. We were aggressive, confident, it was a real good team win,” Carroll said.
Wilkinson was a big part of the win as he ended up recording a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The big man had the task of going up against Nevada 7-footer Javale McGee.
“Gary might have had his best game as an Aggie,” Morrill said.
Despite Wilkinson’s efforts, McGee still ended recording a double-double of his own as he scored 15 points and recorded 12 boards.
The Aggies were able to hold Nevada star Marcelus Kemp in check as he scored 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting. That was in large part due to two freshmen, who had the assignment of trying to slow down Kemp. Starting small forward Tyler Newbold took most of the minutes against Kemp, but freshman Pooh Williams also played hard against Kemp for the 11 minutes of action that he saw.
Morrill spoke of how Newbold just does his job out on the court, and how Williams has been working hard in practice and been earning playing time.
“He’s about as stable as a freshman you can find,” Morrill said in reference to Newbold. “Williams has deserved to play. He has practiced well and deserved to play.”
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu
Junior forward Gary Wilkinson lays the ball in during Utah State’s 77-63 win over the University of Nevada at the Spectrum Saturday night. Wilkinson put up 23 points and had 10 rebounds for a double-double.