Ags stay undefeated at home
Nate Harris and Jaycee Carroll both scored 16 points to lead the Utah State basketball team past the Cal Poly Mustangs 76-65 Saturday at the Spectrum.
Chris Huber and Cass Matheus each had 14 points off the bench and Spencer Nelson added another 10 for the Aggies.
“I thought we had some real good looks off the bench,” head coach Stew Morrill said. “I was really pleased with Cass and Huber.”
USU led by as many as 18, but was ahead by fewer than 10 for most of the game.
“We are playing in spurts right now,” Morrill said. “We need to be a little more consistent. We had some real good moments out there and then we had some not so good moments.”
USU will now play six of its next eight games on the road, starting with a game at Pacific on Thursday.
“Now it is time to go see what we can do on the road,” Morrill said. “It starts out with a tough task at Pacific and then Northridge. Both are very good teams. We will certainly have our hands full.”
USU 87, Marymount 42
The Aggies dominated the Loyola Marymount Lions 87-42 by shooting 65.3 percent from the field and out-rebounding its opponent 41-21.
The 45-point win was the largest margin of victory this season for the Aggies.
“We certainly didn’t expect that,” Morrill said. “Obviously they didn’t play their best game. I thought we were very aggressive defensively. We did a pretty good job rebounding and in other areas. We feel good about it and we’ll move on to league [play].”
Harris scored 21 points and grabbed a game high 13 rebounds to lead the Aggies and capture the Gossner Food’s Classic MVP.
“I try not to think about [being MVP] too much,” Harris said. “It was a toss up between Nelson, Carroll and myself.”
USU 82, South Carolina 60
USU beat the South Carolina Bulldogs 82-60 on Dec. 29 in the first round of the Gossner Foods Classic at the Spectrum.
Carroll and Nelson each had 20 points and Nate Harris and David Pak also scored in double figures to lead the Aggies.
“We knocked some rust off in the first half and played really well in the second half,” Morrill said. “All in all, it was a good win.”
The Aggies led 34-31 at halftime but outscored the Bulldogs 48-29 in the second to pull away with an easy win.
Morrill was particularly pleased with the play of Carroll.
“Jaycee got on a roll and when he gets on a roll, that basket looks like it’s 10-feet [wide],” he said. “He’s a confident freshman, I’ll tell you that. That kid flat knows he can play.”
USU out-rebounded SCSU 39-23 after grabbing 11 fewer boards than Idaho in its previous game. Nelson led the Aggies with nine rebounds.
“I think we rebounded a lot better in the second half,” Nelson said. “We knew we had a size advantage and we wanted to use that.”
USU 84, BYU 62
The Utah State basketball team beat BYU 84-62 on Dec. 18 for the Aggies’ first win in Provo in nearly two decades.
Nelson led the Aggies with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Carroll added another 21 points and Harris had another 16 for USU.
“Obviously, we’re real exited to find a way to play like that down here,” Morrill said. “It’s been a real long time coming. It was kind of wild at times out there, but we were really aggressive.”
Nelson was only three assists away from a triple-double despite battling a tough cough during the game.
“I’m feeling good after this one regardless of my physical health,” Nelson said. “It was a good team effort tonight. I thought everyone played pretty solid tonight.”
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu