Utah State finishes third with a split at South Padre

A struggling USU men’s basketball team finally found the identity it has been looking for Saturday afternoon.

The Aggies committed a season-low seven turnovers and shot 50 percent on field goals as they took down the Big 10’s Iowa Hawkeyes, 75-62.

“Any time you can beat a Big 10 team you’ve got to feel good about it,” Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said in post-game radio interview. “It’s not Iowa’s best team, but you’ve got to feel good about it.”

The Aggies improved to 4-4 on the season and 3-1 in the South Padre Island Invitational. The Hawkeyes dropped to 4-2.

Aggie senior guard Jaycee Carroll put in 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. His 5-of-8 performance from the field helped boost him past Cornell Green (1,890) for fourth place on USU’s all-time scoring list.

It wasn’t only Carroll putting up an offensive show.

USU big man Stephen DuCharme also collected 20 points, and junior forward DeUndrae Spraggins had his best game in an Aggie uniform with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Spraggins put in a 3-pointer for the first points of the game. From then on, the Aggies never trailed.

The Hawkeyes came as close as 18-16 before the Aggies put in eight straight to increase their advantage to 10. Utah State would lead by as many as 12 before going into the half with a 36-27 lead.

DuCharme was the leading scorer at the half (13) as the Aggies shot 48 percent and had only four turnovers.

“We passed it so much better than we’ve been passing the ball,” Morrill said. “That’s going to go a long way to helping us win games.”

The Hawkeyes scored four straight in the second half, coming as close as five, before the Aggies went on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 10. However, the Aggies had an answer-another 8-2 run. The Hawkeyes would come no closer than eight the rest of the game.

The Hawkeyes’ four victories this season came against Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Florida Gulf Coast and MD Eastern Shore. Before playing the Aggies, they fell to Bradley.

COMMODORES 77, AGGIES 56

Friday night’s game against Vanderbilt was more evidence that when Carroll is held to under 20 points, the Aggies lose.

Though DuCharme scored 20, Carroll was held to 15 on 3-of-10 shooting.

A Carroll jumper had Utah State up 14-7 seven minutes into the game. The Commodores scored 15 of the next 17 points to lead 22-16 with just over seven minutes remaining in the opening half.

It ended up being a solid first half for USU as the Aggies shot 56 percent, but 12 turnovers were their Achilles’ heel.

The Commodores quickly stretched their lead to 13 in the second half, and the Aggies were never able to pull back within single digits. Five Vanderbilt players scored in double figures-led by Shan Foster, who had 15 points, and Jermaine Beal, who added 14.

“We played all right,” said USU junior guard Desmond Stephens, who had six points and two rebounds. “But we’ve still got things to improve on, like defense and rebounding.”

USU ended with 19 turnovers and was out-rebounded 40-28.

“They’re talented,” Morrill said of the Commodores. “That’s a team that’s got a chance to do well and go to the NCAA Tournament. They’re big. They’re an SEC team. They caused us to turn it over.

“I don’t know whether we were down or they found their rhythm,” he added. “But their size and athletic ability really bothered us. We didn’t respond very well. We ended up trying to make things happen instead of being patient and broke down offensively.”

-samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu