Ag basketball win again
Utah State’s 63-54 victory over UC Santa Barbara in front of a sell-out crowd at the Spectrum Saturday was just another Aggie win.
Fall behind early. Allow for a see-saw of runs and head into the locker-room with a close halftime score. Come out in the second half, dominate defensively, holding the opponent scoreless for an extended period of time. Win.
“That’s just what we’ve done,” said Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill. “I wish it wasn’t always quite like that, but we find a way.”
In the game’s opening minutes, a Cameron Goettsche alley-oop slam dunk capped a 6-0 Gaucho run that gave Santa Barbara the lead for most of the first half.
Down 16-10 with 10:21 to play in the period, Aggie guard Chris Huber knocked down a three-point basket, his only of the night, to spark a 15-2 USU run over the next five minutes. Huber finished the night 1-of-5 from behind the arc.
With the Ags enjoying a nine-point advantage in the waning minutes of the half, a Goettsche basket again shifted the momentum. UCSB finished the half with a 10-2 run and at halftime held a 30-28 lead over the Aggies.
Morrill was displeased with his team’s first-half performance and going into the locker room said he was an “unhappy camper.”
“We didn’t respond until we got chewed by coach,” said senior guard Cardell Butler. “Then we made a turnaround.”
The opening minutes of the second half saw an onslaught of three-point attempts from both teams. In all, the Ags finished the game 9-of-24 from behind the arc and UCSB finished 6-of-19.
“They force you to shoot three-pointers,” Morrill said. “They do a great job of doubling your post and making you kick it out.”
Santa Barbara’s Bryan Whitehead hit a jumpshot with 15:29 to play in the game to put UCSB up 41-36. But Whitehead’s points would be the last offense the Gauchos saw for quite a while.
Over the next 8:13, USU went on a 13-0 run to take the lead for good. Following the game Morrill said there were “10,270 reasons” for the Aggies second-half turnaround.
“I’ll give a lot of credit to the crowd,” said sophomore guard Nate Harris. “When they’re up and yelling, that’s when we seem to go on our defensive stops and they were great again tonight.”
Offensively for the Ags, Butler led all scorers with 19 points and five rebounds.
“When his energy is up and his emotions are up, he’s a better player,” Morrill said of Butler. “I was on him to get his energy up. You get into February and [everybody’s] tired. But that’s college basketball. You’ve got to suck it up.”
For the Gauchos, Goettsche finished the night with 10 points and two rebounds. Junior forward Casey Cook added 10 points and four rebounds of his own, while Branduinn Fullove was held to just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Four Aggie starters finished in double figures Saturday night. In what Morrill called one of his better games, Jason Williams finished with 10 points and two rebounds. Harris recorded his second-straight double-double, finishing the game with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior guard Mark Brown shot 3-of-4 from downtown and finished the night with 11 points, seven assists and three rebounds in 37 minutes of play.
“He’s got a motor,” Morrill said of Brown. “He wants to win. He’s used to winning. He expects to win. I love guys like that.”
Despite scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds, Morrill said junior Spencer Nelson is still not playing at 100 percent after suffering a broken nose in January.
“He’ll be full strength when he can take that thing off and stomp on it,” Morrill said of Nelson and his protective mask. “But he’s getting used to it.”
USU now heads out on the road for the first time in over two weeks, traveling to Cal State Northridge on Thursday and then to second-place Pacific on Saturday.
“You’re always in a position where a road win is a good thing,” Morrill said.
-acf@cc.usu.edu