Freshman guard hits boards in win
At 6-feet-2-inches and 175 pounds, Utah State freshman Jaycee Carroll corralled 11 rebounds for the Aggies Wednesday night to go along with 13 points as USU defeated in-state rival BYU 71-57.
Carroll, a freshman from Evanston, Wyo., battled with the big guys and tied Spencer Nelson for the most rebounds in the game.
“They told us they needed some stuff from the guards,” Carroll said, “a little help on the boards.”
Head coach Stew Morrill said Carroll doesn’t think he’s a freshman.
“He is just excited to be here – happy to play,” Morrill said. “[He’s] going to have fun going to play hard, going to make a few mistakes, going to make a few buckets, and that’s all part of it. I love his demeanor, I love his enthusiasm and I really love it when he gets a bunch of rebounds and makes a few shots.”
In his first taste of in-state rivalries at the collegiate level, Carroll said he “had a blast.”
“My ears are still ringing,” he said after the game. “The crowd was so loud and into it. That’s how every game should be.”
Improved ball handling
USU had 13 assists and nine turnovers compared to BYU, which had only 10 assists and 15 turnovers. Five of those assists belong to Nelson and the majority of those passes went to Harris during Utah State’s high-low set.
Point guard play also improved for the Aggies as David Pak and Chris Huber had the difficult task of guarding BYU’s sophomore shooting specialist Austin Ainge, who during the first half scored 11 points and only missed two 3-pointers going 3-5.
Pak and Huber didn’t allow Ainge to make another 3-point field goal in the second half holding him to 15 points.
Pak also added 10 points and two assists while Huber had two assists but didn’t make a shot from the field.
“I thought he was a lot better tonight,” Morrill said about Pak. “He was showing some confidence, so that’s huge for us.”
By The Numbers
9,620 – Attendance that filled the Spectrum for Wednesday’s game against BYU
36 – Score at half time.
30 – Number of minutes played by Austin Ainge who is back-up point guard for BYU compared to only 10 minutes for Terry Nashif who started at that position
23 – Number of free throws attempted by the Aggies
21 – Three point shots attempted by the Cougars
18 – Free throws made by the Aggies
16 – Margin of victory for Utah State
8 – Three pointers made by BYU
-kcaustin@cc.usu.edu