Ags win back-to-back homegames in dominating fashion
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday the student section at the Spectrum was greatly reduced in number. Those students who were absent missed a good show as the Aggies easily dispatched of Weber State and Cal Poly to remain perfect on the young season.
After a close call on the road against UC Santa Barbara, USU enjoyed its return to the Spectrum floor. Led by sophomore Tai Wesley, the Ags rallied for a 75-49 victory over instate rival Weber State on Tuesday night, then senior Gary Wilkinson powered USU to a redemption blowout win over Cal Poly, 97-57.
Despite the easy victories, the home stand didn’t start out well for USU. Weber State came opened the game with a lot of energy and sent the Aggies to the locker room trailing by seven, 35-28.
“It was a tale of two halves. I mean, we looked inept in the first half. We looked tentative, we looked not sure if we could even play basketball,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “I don’t know whether it was the eight day layoff or whether it was a lot of guys haven’t played in these instate games … I don’t know what it was but we talked very directly about that at half time.”
Whatever was said, must have worked. Not only did the Aggies go on a tear, scoring 47 points in the second half, but also more impressively they shut down the Wildcats offense.
Weber State was held to a mere 14 points in the second half, and didn’t make a field goal over the final 16 minutes. After trailing at the half, the Aggies at one point held a 30-point lead much to the delight of the crowd who were able to get in some “Ogden High School” chants.
“We were flat beat for 20 minutes; it’s nice to see us bounce back and see some guys jump up and make some shots,” Morrill said. “We really got aggressive on the break and good things started happening. It just kind of mushroomed for us.”
Wesley finished the game one assist shy of becoming the first Aggie since 1988 to have a triple-double. He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks and two steals.
“Tai had a fabulous game. When you look at his line it’s pretty amazing,” Morrill said.
After the game, Wesley joked with reporters about how close he was to pulling off the triple-double.
“Why didn’t you guys tell me,” he said. “Next time that happens, please just stop the game and tell me … all I will do is just pass the ball until someone hits a shot, I promise.”
Coming off the big second half in the Weber State game, the Aggies had no struggles with Saturday’s opponent. After falling at Cal Poly last year, USU pulled away midway through the first half and never looked back en route to the 40-point victory.
“Coming off the Weber game, the tale of two halves that we had in that one, we knew that we had to buckle down and put two of those together,” sophomore Tyler Newbold said. “We need to see consistency and I think we’re getting better at that, and if we can continue that we’ll be all right, we’ll do well.”
Wilkinson paced the Aggies against the Mustangs as he scored 21 points in 21 minutes and pulled down nine rebounds. He was an unstoppable force inside, and former USU recruit Titus Shelton had no answer for Big Red all night.
After trailing 14-10 just six minutes into the game the Aggies used a 15-4 run to take control for good. The Ags outscored the Mustangs 36-16 over the final 14 minutes to take a 16-point lead to the locker room, 46-30.
The second half showed no signs of the Aggies letting up. Wilkinson and Wesley picked up where they left off, dominating in the paint, as USU opened the half with a 19-6 run.
With nearly 13-minutes left in the game the majority of the Aggie starters headed to the bench for the remainder of the game, but that didn’t hinder the Ags offensive efficiency.
Junior Stavon Williams shook off his season long shooting woes and connected on five straight 3-point attempts, including three in a row, pushing the lead to 30. Sophomore center Modou Niang also had his best outing as an Aggie scoring eight points and pulling down six rebounds in 13 minutes of action.
“We needed to get those other guys time, let them have some fun and play and get some experience,” Morrill said. “We got a lot out of that game, especially time for guys that needed time, that will help us down the road.”
The win avenged one of two losses the Aggies suffered on the road to former Big West foes last season. USU will get a chance to avenge the second when the host UC Irvine Tuesday night at 7.