USU MBB: Aggies fall to Weber State, sustain first loss of season

LOGAN — After a program record-tying 9-0 start, Utah State Men’s Basketball suffered its first loss of the season falling to in-state rival Weber State 75-72 on Monday night. 

In what seemed like a game that the Aggies were going to cruise to victory in — after leading by as much as 18 points in the first half — it turned into a nightmare.

Utah State shot 13-24 from the field as well as 5-8 from three and 12-13 from the stripe in a 43-29 first-half rout.

In the second half, it was all Wildcats.

Weber State shot 17-29 in the second half after an 11-28 first half to go along with six second-half three-pointers. The Wildcats shot 10-20 as a team from deep in the game, which provided fits for the Aggie defense.

Utah State scored just 29 points in the second half and surrendered 46 to the Wildcats in the loss.“They were fabulous in that second half. They did a great job with their coaching staff and their players were very competitive. (Dillon) Jones is a dynamite player and I’ve watched him since I was coaching at UMBC,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “They all played well.”

The first loss of the season comes to the first Quadrant 4 opponent the Aggies have faced and on the day that the Aggies received 10 votes in the AP Poll.

Despite the loss, USU got healthier as they welcomed back guard Rylan Jones after he sustained a concussion versus Utah Tech on December 1. Jones had six points and drew four fouls including a baited charge that allowed the Aggies to pull it close in the second half.

It was a rough night for forward Taylor Funk, who was coming back from an ankle injury. Funk shot just 4-13 from the field and 2-9 from deep, only providing 10 points. But his teammates and coaches aren’t worried.

“Everyone has a bad shooting night. He has played in a lot of college basketball games and I am sure he has had bad shooting nights. Tomorrow we just have to come back with a focus that we had better than coming into the season.” Jones said. 

Odom said he is “always confident” in Funk, but talked with him about how he could improve from tonight. 

“He shot faked in the corner one time and I asked why he did that. I am not worried one second about him, but he can’t shot fake when there is nobody around him,” Odom said.

The Aggies and Wildcats went back and forth in the second half and the game saw itself tied four times. The most notable sequence was back-to-back-to-back-to-back threes between the two teams, where Utah State tied the game twice only to go back down by three, including a triple from Weber State’s KJ Cunningham that put the Wildcats up for good.

Utah State fell to 9-1 on the season and Weber State improved to 5-7.

Utah State will head to the Aloha State to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic this weekend which will be an opportunity for the Aggies to have their first Quadrant 1 opponent if they match up with Iona.

“We want to focus on the next game,” Odom said. “When we play in a tournament like this we focus on winning but we have a game to play. It will be a tough matchup for us in that first round.” 

The Aggies will face Seattle, who are 7-2 on the season, in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM and ESPNU.

Featured image by Phil Weber.