Column: USU men prepared to rebound

“Misses the front end. Bean picks it up, has to heave it, Bean… and it is no good, New Mexico wins, 66-64 a Lobo stunner.” – CBS Sports commentator Carter Blackburn at the end of Utah State’s loss to New Mexico last Saturday night.

Basketball is often referred to as “a game of runs” — and it has been a season of runs for the Aggie basketball team. They began the season strong, going 13-2 in non-conference play, with wins over likely NCAA tournament teams Florida and LSU. Then, according to senior guard Sam Merrill, they “went through a little rut,” losing 4 out of 5 games to begin January, including tough losses at Air Force and at Boise State.

Following the tough stretch, USU proceeded to win again. They won 9 out of 10, working their way up to second in the conference, and back in position to make the NCAA tournament. But then, Saturday night, they were hit with a surprise counter-attack, falling to 13-loss New Mexico in the final game of the regular season.

In order to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, Utah State will have to go on a final run in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas this weekend. At the very least, they need to win Thursday and Friday night to make it to the championship game, but quite possibly, they need to win the entire tournament and secure the automatic bid to the big dance. Are they up to the challenge? Merrill certainly thinks so.

“We’ve shown what our ceiling is, we’ve played really well against some really good teams,” he said.

With the quad one wins over LSU and Florida, and quad two wins over North Texas and Colorado State, the Aggies have some very respectable victories on their resume. But they have also played poorly against some really bad teams, with quad 3 losses against Air Force and New Mexico.

If they want to win in Vegas, the Aggies must perform at a high-level three days in a row, remain poised and close out games. The team has proven that they can endure tough defeats, and then respond well in the games that follow. On Jan. 7 they lost to Air Force but then responded on Jan. 11 with a win against Nevada. After the loss at Boise State on Jan. 18, they came back the following week and handled Air Force and Colorado State. Senior guard Diogo Brito credits the team’s ability to move forward to the next game on its collective mentality.

“We’ve just tried to stay focused on our path…whatever happens, let’s just make sure we show up, work, and have that intensity,” he said.

Coming into the final stretch of his college career, Brito understands the task at hand and is determined to win.

“I’m just gonna bring everything, just give everything I have to give for the team, whether its defense — its always defense — whether that’s scoring, whether that’s looking for the open guy…playing as hard as I can the whole time,” he said.

Brito has shown his urgency to make things happen as of late, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out seven assists on Saturday Night, despite the loss. The team, unfortunately, had some uncharacteristic mistakes Saturday night that resulted in a two-point loss to a middle of the pack Lobo team.

But despite the tough loss, the results of the season have shown that they have the ability to bounce back according to Merrill.

“Guys don’t rise to the occasion but they go to the level of their training… I believe that if you work hard things are gonna go your way.”

It’s safe to presume that Merrill and his teammates will play to the level of their training this weekend in Vegas, but to string three wins together will take a special run. So here’s to hoping things will go their way.

Twitter: @Jacobnielson12