USU men lose battle of Aggies in Las Cruces
USU’s first test on the road in the Western Athletic Conference didn’t quite turn out as it hoped.
USU went into halftime tied with New Mexico State 34-all and tied the southern Aggies 48-all with 13:04 left in the game, but then the offense sputtered. New Mexico State finished the game on a 32-12 run to win the game 80-60 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M.
“We quit playing,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “It was embarrassing. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this embarrassed about our basketball team. We shouldn’t take university money if we’re going to come out on a trip and play this bad. That was a joke.
“I take full responsibility, but we basically just quit competing. We gave in, and we fouled them, and they either shot free throws or dunked on us.”
Forward Kyisean Reed, who struggled mightily and didn’t score at all against Nevada, led Utah State with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line.
“I was just completely ineffective in the game, so I came out tonight with a different attitude and tried to impose my will,” Reed said of his turnaround performance.
Senior guard Brockeith Pane made a jumper with 15:31 left to play in the first half to give USU (9-8, 1-2 WAC) its largest lead of the game at 12-7, but the Aggies went without scoring over the next four minutes.
Pane scored 16 points to go with three assists and three turnovers.
“He did bounce back and give us something,” Morrill said of Reed. “I thought Brockeith was real solid and aggressive. They were really about the only guys that had very good games.”
Morrill said he was concerned about NMSU’s (12-5, 2-0 WAC) length and ability to rebound. USU struggled greatly down low against the southern Aggies. Much of the problem was due to senior Morgan Grim and freshman Ben Clifford getting into foul trouble.
“It’s ridiculous — Morgan and Ben in foul trouble the whole night, and they can’t even be on the floor,” Morrill said. “We’re out there with guys that aren’t very experienced on the post.
“Yeah, they’re big and they’re physical and they could have beat us anyway, but it shouldn’t have been like that. It shouldn’t have been just a disaster down the stretch. That’s ridiculous.”
New Mexico State out-rebounded USU 39-28.
Simply put, USU did not play a full 40 minutes of basketball.
“We were hanging in there,” Morrill said. “We weren’t playing great, but we were hanging in there. They made the game 40 minutes, not 26. You’ve got to have enough oomph and toughness to compete for 40 minutes, especially on the road. It’s just really disappointing. You can’t sugarcoat how we were the last 14 minutes. It’s just ridiculous.”
For Morrill, his team’s effort in the loss left much to be desired.
“We’ve had losses where we competed and played pretty well and close games and games we could have won, and I’ve been fine afterward, because we gave ourselves a chance and we were getting better, but there’s no excuse for this,” he said. “Players and coaches should all be embarrassed. It was a joke.”
Freshman guard Daniel Mullings scored 19 points to lead New Mexico State while senior forward Wendell McKines chipped in a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Senior center Hamidu Rahman finished with 11 points.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu