Ags have seen this before
For the second time this year, the Utah State men’s basketball team lost as its last shot fell to the ground without first passing through the hoop.
On the floor of the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, the Ags walked into the locker room after Jaycee Carroll missed a mid-range jumper and the ball bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded the end of the game.
A little more than a week ago, the Ags lost in almost the same manner as a Nate Harris last-second shot missed, to let Middle Tennessee State win 60-59.
Carroll said it was frustrating to lose by only one point, and fixing the little things is the way to get the win.
In the final minutes of the game, numerous mistakes were made by both teams. But with a one-point margin, there are any number of things that can swing a “W” into the other team’s column.
Carroll himself missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with six minutes left.
That alone covers the one point, not to mention the shot would have tied the game at 60. The second half of the one-and-one could have been the winning margin, but there was still a lot of game left at that point.
Both teams took eight shots after that point and both turned the ball over twice. The difference would then have to be shooting.
The Utes made a 3-pointer and two layups while the Ags made two jumpers, a free throw and a layup. For the game, the Utes shot 6-13 from behind the arc, including a 50 percent second half going 3-6. The team shot 60 percent from the field in the second half as well.
The Ags shot 55 percent in the second half, but some shot selection could be to blame.
On a fast break where Utah State didn’t have numbers, Carroll pulled up for a jumper which he missed.
The next possession, David Pak fired a 3-pointer semi-early in the shot clock which was off the mark.
After a Utah miss, Durrall Peterson took the ball down the baseline until he was met by some pressure and the referees called him for charging on the shot. The call gave the Utes the ball and helped them stretch their lead to six with less than four minutes left.
All three decisions provided momentum for Utah who rode that margin to the win despite turning the ball over twice in the last three minutes and missing three shots and a free throw.
The Aggies’ shot selection and shot-making in that stretch proved costly, and with the Utes shooting 60 percent, Utah State wasn’t playing the game it wanted to on the road.
Aggie opponents came into the night shooting 38 percent from the field. Besides percentages, the Utes also out-rebounded the Aggies 27-19.
“Utah is big,” Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “Its tough to go out there and out rebound them.”
The front line for Utah included three players taller than Cass Matheus, the Ags’ tallest starter. Chris Jackson and Jonas Langvad are 6 feet 11 inches and Luke Nevill, who scored 10 points, is 7 feet 1 inch.
The Utes also had five offensive rebounds in the second half, one of which came with 49 seconds remaining.
Five of the first seven Utah State games are on the road and so far, the Ags are 1-2 in road games with two more remaining before the Aggie home tilt over the Christmas holidays.
“Look around and see how many people are doing that,” Morrill said of his early season traveling schedule.
The road games which remain are at Weber State on Dec. 10 and the Ags’ first conference game on the road at Hawai’i on Dec. 17. The Warriors upset Michigan State last week at home and Weber State took Utah to overtime before losing last weekend.
-krn@cc.usu.edu