Woeful shooting Aggies lose at UNLV
Shooting struggles plagued Utah State once again and its defense failed to hold UNLV back, resulting in a Running Rebels’ 70-53 victory in Las Vegas.
The opening minutes weren’t too bad on the Aggies — they made their first four shot attempts and took an early 8-7 lead. Over the next eight minutes, 30 seconds, however, USU missed 12 consecutive field goal attempts. The only points that went on the Utah State side of the scoreboard during that span were a pair of Sam Merrill free throws.
At the end of the first half, where the Rebels held a 37-26 advantage, Utah State had fielded a measly 32 percent shooting percentage and a 1 for 9 mark on 3-pointers. UNLV found much greater success by going 4 for 10 on triples and making 46.7 percent of its attempts overall.
Utah State’s Brock Miller (22) attempts a shot over UNLV’s Donnie Tillman (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Utah State did nothing in the second half to rectify those dreadful shooting statistics and actually shot worse, dropping to __ percent at the end of the game. The 3-point shooting ended up especially bad for Utah State. The team walked into the locker room having made just 2 of 18 threes ( 11.1 percent), joining 32 other Division I teams to in the dubious accomplishment of taking at least 18 threes and making two or fewer.
Merrill, for his part as the team’s leading scorer, had an uncharacteristically unimpactful night. He only attempted six shots (season average is 12.5) and finished with just 10 points and had three turnovers.
Utah State’s Sam Merrill drives against UNLV’s Marvin Coleman (31) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
On the season, Utah State has four players averaging double figures: Merrill, Bean, Anderson and Miller. Of that quartet only Bean’s impact was felt on the scoresheet in any meaningful way. The sophomore led the Aggies in scoring (17) and rebounding (11) while also having the only noteworthy shooting night. Bean made 5 of 11 field goal attempts.
The other three season-leading scorers for USU combined to shoot 8 for 24 on the night.
The loss broke a 12-game conference winning streak for the Aggies and drops the team out of a four-way tie for first place among in the Mountain West. Three other MW teams remain undefeated in conference play — UNLV, Nevada and San Diego State, the Aggies’ opponent on Saturday.
The Aztecs will come to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday not only riding an unbeaten conference mark, but an undefeated 14-0 overall on the season. That record has SDSU ranked No. 1 in the NET rankings and No. 13 in the AP rankings.