Ugly but victorious
Sometimes in basketball a team just takes the win, regardless of how it looks.
That’s exactly what the Aggies did Monday night after beating NAIA opponent Montana-Western, 77-58.
Utah State was playing its third game in four days, and it was evident by how the team looked and played Monday.
“It’s our third game in four days,” head coach Stew Morrill said. “I knew we’d be struggling a little bit with some dead legs and a lack of energy.”
With sloppy play from both teams and a defense that was at times lackadaisical, Morrill said he was just happy to get the win.
“We got through it,” Morrill said. “And sometimes that’s what you have to do.”
Led by senior Jaycee Carroll and sparked off the bench by the surprise play of freshman Modou Niang, Utah State was able to stay undefeated at home and improve its overall record to 2-1.
Niang, who didn’t even dress for the game and was going to redshirt this season, came out of the tunnel after halftime suited up and ready to play. To the delight of the 8,315 fans in attendance, he got his first playing time as an Aggie.
“We got Modou off his redshirt, I guess,” Carroll said.
Niang totaled 13 minutes of play in the second half and helped the team out, Carroll said.
“It was a good lift he gave us,” Carroll said.
Morrill said he recognized the move was a bit unusual for him, but after watching the first half of play, he said he felt like he had to bring the 6-foot-9 center from Senegal into the game.
“I was not really pleased with how active we were or how we were rebounding the ball,” Morrill said. “I just think that by conference time he could give us a real good lift.”
In the second half, Niang recorded two blocks, one steal, a single rebound and his first collegiate points when he made the second of two free throws with 1:50 left.
“He’s now playing and he’s happy about it,” Morrill said.
“Modou has been practicing well, and listening well, and progressing,” Carroll said. “So I guess in sense you could say he earned it.”
In the game, Carroll scored more than 30 points for the fifth time in his career. He finished the game with 31 total points on 10-of-19 shooting, including five 3-pointers. He also recorded one steal for the game and was the leading rebounder for the team with seven.
“I scored a few points,” Carroll said. “But defensively I was atrocious.”
Morrill echoed Carroll’s comments and said defense is something the whole team needs to work on.
“We’ve got to get better,” Morrill said. “We don’t help very well, we get beat on the ball. Our post defense isn’t very good.”
Turnovers were again a topic discussed after the game-specifically the Aggies committing too many of them. Utah State turned the ball over 18 times. Carroll attributed that to so many new guys on the team trying to learn a new system and mesh together on the court.
“We’re trying to figure who we are and what’s going on,” Carroll said. “As individuals we all kind of know what kind of game we play, but as a team we are still struggling to find that. That’s really evident with the amount of turnovers we are having.”
Morrill agreed and said the team will come together.
“We got all kinds of new guys,” Morrill said. “I’ve been impatient. I’ve been on them hard. We’re trying to find our way. We’ll find our way and we’re going to take some lumps along the way.”
With 3:44 left in the first half, the Aggies used an 11-2 run up until halftime to increase a three-point lead to 12. The run was capped off by a Kris Clark half-court shot as the buzzer sounded, giving the Aggies a 39-27 lead.
Montana-Western was led in scoring by sophomore guard Gus McDonald, who scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
The Aggies now prepare for a weekend road trip as they will travel to California and play California Polytechnic State University on Thursday and then the University of California-Irvine on Saturday.
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu