Utah State men find new ways to lose familiar games
On Saturday, the Utah State men’s basketball team once again found itself in a close game against a Mountain West foe at halftime.
Once again, though, a huge second-half run by the opponents doomed the Aggies as they fell, 84-65, this time on the road at Wyoming.
The loss dropped USU to 3-8 in conference play, tied with lowly Air Force and San Jose State at the bottom of the standings.
While the particulars of each MW loss vary, the overall storyline of the games has been hauntingly similar. The Aggies compete for a half, showing their quality, but struggle through a fatal stretch at some point that changes the tenor of the game.
Visiting Boise State on Tuesday, USU played quite possibly its best half of basketball this season in the opening period, taking a 38-28 lead into the break. A 3-pointer by senior Chris Smith to open the second half pushed the lead to 13, but the Aggies immediately gave up an 11-0 run in less than four minutes that allowed the Broncos back in the game.
Utah State was able to stretch the lead back to 11 with just over 11 minutes left to play, but Boise State worked its way into the game and took the lead for good on a 3-point shot with 1:31 remaining.
The Aggies led for nearly 38 minutes, but were held scoreless over the final 2:49 of the 70-67 loss.
“Toughest loss of the year,” head coach Tim Duryea said. “We can flow along for a while, but the other team gets a stretch and we have a hard time righting the ship.”
Not only has Utah State struggled to right the ship during games, the team is suffering through its first five-game losing streak since the 1989-90 season.
An extended stretch of lackluster play at some point in each game has been the constant ingredient in the losing streak, but the recipe for defeat has been slightly different each time.
Against the Broncos, the recipe was Boise State’s ability to pummel the Aggies under the basket, as the home team out-rebounded USU 39-22 – including a 17-3 edge on the offensive glass – and out-scored USU 38-18 in the paint.
The offensive rebounds proved to be the difference in the three-point loss as BSU held an 18-point edge in second-chance points.
Wyoming, on the other hand, took advantage of a record-setting night from beyond the 3-point line to turn a one-point halftime lead into a blowout.
The Cowboys connected on their school-record 15th 3-point shot less than eight minutes into the second half and finished the game with 20 makes on 38 attempts, shooting at a mind-boggling 53 percent.
Prior to Saturday, Wyoming averaged less than 10 3-point shots per game on 35 percent shooting.
While there is some inherent randomness whenever an opponent shoots at such a high percentage, Wyoming consistently manufactured quality looks for its best shooters by moving the ball quickly and running those shooters through a series of off-ball screens.
The defense was unable to keep up, allowing the Cowboys’ best players to take uncontested shots.
Junior guard Jason McManamen, a 43 percent 3-point shooter coming into the game, took advantage of the open looks as he scored a game-high 20 points on 6 of 10 shooting from deep. Senior Josh Adams, the fifth-leading scorer in the nation, also took a number of open shots as he scored 19 points on 5 of 8 from deep.
Utah State led 9-7 early, but the Cowboys responded by knocking down five consecutive shots behind the arc, eventually opening up a 22-11 lead. By halftime Wyoming had knocked down 10 shots from deep, surpassing its per-game season average in the first half alone, but USU weathered the storm and trailed just 38-37 at the break.
The lackluster play appeared in the opening of the second half, though, as the Aggies scored just two points in the first eight minutes while the Cowboys continued to fire from deep.
By the time USU scored its third point of the half, Wyoming’s lead was up to 20.
Utah State, now past the most difficult part of the schedule, has an opportunity to put some wins together with four of the last seven games of the season coming at home.
Now 11-11 on the season, though, the Aggies host New Mexico on Tuesday, needing a victory to avoid falling below .500. The game will be the second black-out game of the year and will tip at 8 p.m.
— thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @tomcat340