Aggie bigs show improvement in loss
Utah State men’s basketball remained winless against San Diego State after a 71-65 loss Thursday in Las Vegas.
The Aggies haven’t beat the Aztecs since joining the Mountain West in 2012.
Utah State jumped out to an early lead on San Diego State but foul trouble by the big men on USU’s roster doomed the team.
In the first half, Utah State big men Lew Evans, Quinn Taylor and Elston Jones each had 3 fouls. With an injury to Grayson Moore and the departure of David Collette at the beginning of the season, USU had no other options for the forward spot.
“That was us being undisciplined,” said USU head coach Tim Duryea. “We had foul trouble early on with Lew (Evans) and Quinn (Taylor) and Elston (Jones). Most of it was our own undoing, just being undisciplined and getting out of position.
“When I went out the second half, I was determined to play those guys like they had no foul trouble and just go from there,” Duryea said. “If one fouled out, we would have gone to the other one … I wasn’t going to play the second half worried about foul trouble.”
In the second half, USU’s bigs responded to the call and nobody fouled out. Forced into a three-man rotation at the five spot, USU’s big men all contributed to the competition against the long, athletic Aztecs.
“Elston didn’t get much of a chance in the second half,” Duryea said. “I thought Quinn, especially in the second half, was really active, really aggressive. Lew did a good job all day. I thought Lew played one of his more complete games of the year.”
Despite the foul trouble, USU was only outscored by two points in the paint and outrebounded SDSU by seven.
“Coming in, Coach told us we had to rebound,” said sophomore guard Julion Pearre. “We had to fight … We came in with the mentality that we’re going to out-rebound them, we’re going to play hard and that’s what we were able to do. Even when we got in foul trouble, we stuck together as a team and kept fighting.”
Utah State ended the season 16-15 on the year, with three losses coming at the hands of San Diego State.
“I’ve got great respect for Utah State,” said SDSU coach Steve Fisher. “They’ve lost some tough, close, hard-fought games. They didn’t hang their heads. They said, ‘We’re going to win, we’re going to find a way to win.’ That’s how they play. That’s how we play too.”
If the Aggies keep playing that way, maybe next year they’ll get the first win against San Diego State.
– kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor