One-point heartbreak
Jaycee Carroll barely missed a game-winning jump shot as the Utah State basketball team lost 67-66 to the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City Wednesday night.
Neither team led by more than six points.
“It was a hell of a game if you didn’t care who wins or loses,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “We ran a play to give Jaycee the ball [on the last play]. He had a good look. It just didn’t go down.”
David Pak rebounded a missed Utah 3-pointer with 17 seconds to play and took the ball to the other end of the court and set up a play for Carroll. Carroll drove past a screen by Nate Harris and took a 15-foot jump shot with two seconds remaining and missed.
The Aggies rebounded that ball and made a layup, but it was well after the final buzzer had sounded.
“I had a good look,” Carroll said. “Next time I’ll knock it down.”
Carroll said that’s a shot he’s used to taking.
“I made that shot a thousand times at my house, the gym and at the Spectrum,” he said. “And I’ll make it a thousand more times.”
Morrill said he thought about calling a time-out to set up a final play, but decided not to.
“It’s one of those things that if it doesn’t work out, you look back and say that we should have done that,” he said.
Carroll led USU with 18 points and Harris added another 10 points and four rebounds.
Overall, the Utes out-rebounded the Aggies 27-19 and shot 57.8 percent from the field.
“We have to do better at the defensive end and getting rebounds,” Morrill said. “In order to be good on the road, we have to fix these things. It’s tough to go on the road and give up these kind of percentages and win.”
This was the second game of the year in which USU lost by one point because it missed a last-second shot.
“It gets frustrating losing by one point,” Carroll said. “Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to get us to do the little things to get us more points.”
Morrill said his team is much better than its 2-2 record.
“We at not that far away from being a good team,” he said. “Utah was picked to be at the top of the Mountain West. The WAC and the MWC are very similar. We’ve just got to make one more shot.”
Harris said it’s tough losing two games the way the Aggies have.
“We’re two points away from being 4-0,” he said. “It’s hard to swallow.”
Bryant Markson led the way for the Utes with 17 points and six rebounds. Johnnie Bryant, Luke Nevill and Chris Jackson also scored in double figures for Utah.
USU will face the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders on Monday in the Spectrum. MTSU beat the Aggies 60-59 in their game on Nov. 21 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
USU’s Jaycee Carroll attempts a last-second jump shot against Utah Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. The Aggies fell to the Utes by one point, 66-67. (Tyler Larson)