Overtime loss to Nevada erases auto-bid hopes

as the Utah State men’s basketball team lost to Nevada 70-63 in overtime in Reno, Nev.

In the final moments of regulation, Carroll missed a 15-foot jump shot, but Harris found the rebound underneath the basket. But his layup rolled off the rim and Cass Matheus’ desperation tip-in went wide, sending the game into overtime.

“That was a hell of a basketball game,” head coach Stew Morrill said. “The team did everything I could ask of them. We got a good look, Nate got a great rebound and got a great look, Cass had a tip. We had plenty of opportunities. We gave ourselves a chance to win. I was pleased with the effort even if I’m not pleased with the result.”

Harris led the Aggies with 22 points and nine rebounds and Matheus added another 13 points, his best output of the tournament.

Harris said the game could have gone either way.

“It was a great matchup,” he said. “We gave them all we could handle. There was a million things that could have went our way that didn’t.”

The game was the championship of the Western Athletic Conference tournament and would have given the Aggies an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Speculation as to whether USU would still make the tournament as an at-large began immediately after the game.

“If we don’t get a bid, then a lot of WAC teams can go back to the Big West [Conference],” Morrill said. “That’s why we came to this league. These kids belong in the NCAA tournament. They deserve it.”

In his post-game press conference, the first comment Nevada Head Coach Mark Fox made was about how good the Aggies were.

“That team deserves to be in the tournament,” he said. “We’ve beat 19 or so different teams and many of them are in the tournament. We see USU at the top.”

Aggie David Pak said he doesn’t understand why people think USU’s schedule is soft.

“We beat Oral Roberts twice, we beat Northwestern State, we won at Nevada,” he said. “We shouldn’t be talking about if we make it, you should be congratulating us on making the tournament.”

Harris said there has been a double-standard this season in what counts as a big win.

“We come to Nevada and win and its no big deal,” he said. “Then we lose at home and we’re bad.”

The day after losing to the Wolf Pack, the NCAA tournament committee announced that USU did get an at-large bid. The Aggies were given a 12-seed and would play the Washington Huskies in the first round.

Harris was named to the all-WAC tournament team after the championship game. Nevada’s Nick Fazekas was named the tournament MVP.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu