USU looks for seventh-straight win against Wyoming
The Aggie basketball team has won six-straight games after defeating the Air Force Falcons 74-60 on Saturday afternoon.
“It was a good win for us,” said Stew Morrill after the win over Air Force. “It is never easy here. It wasn’t easy, and it took forever. They were doing everything they could to stay in the game and give themselves a chance and keep fighting. It was going to get a little feisty, but that is just what you get when you play Air Force.”
Now in fourth place and with a chance to move into third in MW standings, Utah State will continue the season taking on fifth-place Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming on Wednesday night.
“Five road wins in Mountain West Conference play and I’m not sure many people would have predicted that,” Morrill said after the Air Force game. “I think our guys can feel good about that. It helps on the trip because you got the first one and you know you at least have a split, now try to get greedy and see if you can find a way to win in Laramie.”
The first time the two teams met, Utah State came out on top in a 56-44 defensive battle. Freshman forward David Collette led the Aggies with 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Wyoming was led in scoring by Riley Grabau, who had 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. The entire team was 7 of 23 on 3-point shots.
“We executed the game plan and everybody did what they were supposed to do,” Collette said after the win. “We shared the ball and helped each other out. We take pride on defense. We knew that they could hit the 3’s, but we kept them down on those shots.”
Wyoming has lost four of its last six games and is falling fast in MW standings. After holding onto second place in the MW for much of the season, Wyoming started to slide after losing Larry Nance Jr. for four games due to mononucleosis. The Cowboys are now in fifth place with a 10-6 conference record.
Nance is the leading scorer and rebounder for Wyoming. He averages 15 points and nearly eight boards per game. Since returning from illness on Wednesday, Nance has played two games and scored nine points in each.
Junior guard Josh Adams is the next-leading scorer for the Cowboys. He has averaged close to 12 points per game on the season but has poured in just over 22 points per game in the last four contests.
Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt said he was disappointed with his team after a recent home loss to Fresno State but is looking to get back on track against Utah State.
“We got whipped, and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen the next game,” Shyatt said. “A lot of nights, we are able to make those key free throws down the stretch, and there has been a disappointed team on the other bench. It was regrettable we couldn’t do that tonight, but we now have to look to the next game, and we’ll see what we’re made of.”
The Aggies are led by Jalen Moore, who is coming off a 10-point, 10-rebound effort against the Falcons. The sophomore wing player is the team’s leading scorer and leading rebounder.
Collette is right behind Moore averaging over 13 points, nearly six rebounds along with two blocks per game.
“Our defense has slipped a little bit,” Morrill said. “But we got it back a little bit in the second half the other night. That was positive. It is never easy on the road, you have hang in there mentally and play together and play through some adversity. That is just the nature of being on the road.”
— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor