Aggie hoops takeaways: season-saving win over UNR edition
Wow.
Cautious optimism said the matchup against a Nevada team inching toward March’s big dance was going to be a good game, but that hope has certainly been misplaced before. An unattractive four-game losing skid marred the Aggies’ early conference schedule, weighting what should’ve been a gifted team down into the Mountain West’s murky basement.
However, a solid home win against Fresno State served as a sort of primer for Aggie fans on this night — a night when longtime rival UNR would come to Logan and wager a 18-4 record on what looked like a lowly Utah State team ready to turn and run at the first sign of danger. Instead, the Wolfpack found the Spectrum as unwelcome and unruly a place as ever.
Sam Brown A review of USU’s most fun game of the season:
The first half was a trading of blows in equal measure. Cameron Oliver landed a few shots to the body. Koby McEwen and Jalen Moore kept up with light jabs around the perimeter. The period ended in a 25-25 tie, both teams deadlocked in a frantic battle to reach 60 first, or to have the ball last.
Then the second half saw the Aggies elevate themselves to a plane previously unknown to fans who weren’t around for the WAC title days. Shane Rector came off the bench to impose repeated bursts of blunt force trauma onto Wolfpack defenders when the Aggie offense seemed most desperate, splitting defenders and finishing at the rim with the raw fury of an atom. Alexis Dargenton treated each rebound like the ball was made of solid gold, silencing Nevada’s second chance attempts at every turn with a ferocious effort on the boards that saw him shoot even his own teammates scowls when they robbed him of a rebound. Dargenton wasn’t fishing for stats, he was out there hunting — not for ten or twenty rebounds, but for every single one of them.
Suddenly the Aggies were rolling, but even a 16-point lead with five minutes to go felt unsafe against the Wolfpack’s well-documented comeback ability. UNR began an ultra-aggressive press, forcing a turnover and a timeout. Moore responded by inbounding the ball to McEwen on a deep post route for a key late bucket.
Let’s explore this tangent for just a minute —
Koby is the MW freshman of the year. Decade. Whatever.
Sam Brown Conference freshman of the year isn’t up for debate. McEwen’s propensity for second-half highlight-reel plays alone would be enough. His 15.5 points per game and no. 7 spot on the conference’s top scorers list would be enough. His first place ranking amongst freshmen in every major category would definitely be enough. Then he goes and drops 19 points in the final 12 minutes in a season-saving game against Nevada? Go ask a flat-Earther who the FOY is, even they’ll tell you the Toronto product is in a tier all to himself.
Alright, back to the game.
The contest’s tense final minutes came to a pause when Rector, looking for a potential dagger jam in transition, got dropped hard by a fifth Oliver foul, coming off the ground with a bloody gash above his eye and a badly contorted wrist. Rector stayed conscious and took his own seat on the bench without issue, but would not return.
Sam Brown Play resumed with Moore again finding McEwen in transition, this time with a slick bounce pass only a handful of Mountain West guys could make, putting a cap on the Aggies’ biggest win of the year with a flourish that seemed to eliminate any doubt of the outcome’s legitimate nature. No flukes this game; just a dominant defensive performance to subtract the conference’s top scorer from the equation, another token second half from McEwen and a spirited victory in front of a good home crowd.
No, the stands weren’t packed to capacity. The Scotsman wasn’t sung 38 times. Nobody’s ears will be ringing within 12 hours of this game. But the result is the same now as in days of old — the home team raised in glorified triumph, and the losing team heading back to Reno with tails tucked neatly between their legs.
And on that plane ride home, you can bet Wolfpack players were already dreading the game tape of one dude in particular.
Sam Merrill played 36 minutes of flawless defense.
Marcus Marshall won’t play a worse game in his career than he did Wednesday. A glance at his stat line would almost suggest an early exit due to injury or expulsion, but no — Marshall was physically on the court for 37 minutes, essentially no more than an active spectator to a great game happening all around him. Marshall tallied just two points on 1-of-12 shooting and not a single trip to the foul line. That’s the best scorer in the conference, on the best* team in the conference, scoring as many field goals as the random citizen they pulled from the crowd during a timeout did in a thirty-second window. He was a complete non-factor, his 22-ppg subtracted from the Pack’s entire gameplan.
It wasn’t just a freaky bad shooting night that held Marshall under iron wraps, but the stifling defense of one Sam Merrill. Get a load of some of the post-game praise for Merrill’s herculean effort:
“The best defensive performance since I took over. Considering the competition and importance of the game for our path, it was an A+ defensive performance for 40 minutes. A lot of guys did a lot of things but the job Sam Merrill did on Marcus Marshall, I didn’t think was possible. I was hoping for 12-13 points, he’s the league’s leading scorer. Shane (Rector) guarded him for a few possessions while Sam got some rest.” — USU head coach Tim Duryea
“Sam did a good job containing the leading scorer in the league. That’s the biggest reason why we won the game.” — Koby McEwen
“Marcus (Marshall) couldn’t get going at all. We were stagnant on offense and played our worst game of the year and played on the road against a team that has a lot of talent. Their record does not indicate who they are at all. (Koby) McEwen is a phenomenal freshman and I thought Merrill played unbelievable defense on Marcus tonight.” — UNR head coach Eric Musselman
This isn’t the first takeaways column Merrill’s earned specific and well-earned praise, and it won’t be the last. Dude also shot 3-of-7 on the night, hitting each of those three shots at opportune times when UNR began tasting a shift in momentum.
Utah State clawed out of a last-place conference ranking and back into the fray of a frenzied season in the Mountain West. Tough road games in Boise and Ft. Collins loom. Eight games remain. The Aggies, stalled though the season has felt at times, are now three games out of first place.
Nice.
