USU MBB: Aggies meltdown in second half, suffer second conference loss
RENO, Nev. — Utah State Men’s Basketball fell to Nevada 85-70 dropping to 14-4 on the season and 3-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
Coming off one of their best wins of the season, defeating Wyoming 83-63 on Jan. 10, the Aggies came into Nevada looking for their first Quadrant 1 win of the season versus the Wolf Pack who were ranked No. 34 in NET rankings prior to the game.
The start of the game couldn’t have been better for Utah State.
The Aggies opened the game leading 16-6 and would head into the second half leading the Wolfpack 42-37 after shooting 48% from the field and 6-11 from the arc.
Forward Taylor Funk scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half while grabbing nine rebounds and two steals in the loss.
Utah State led for over 16 minutes in the first half and forced five turnovers while scoring 16 points in the paint.
But like a story that has been written many times this season, the Aggies’ book was closed in the second half. Nevada would go on a 10-0 run early in the second half before the Aggies stopped the bleeding.
USU maintained a lead for most of the second half and held a 64-62 lead with 8:58 to go, but that would be the start of another spark for the Wolfpack.
Nevada went on a 19-0 run to silence the Aggies, in another complete second-half meltdown by Utah State this season.
Utah State scored just 28 points in the second half and gave up 48 to the Wolfpack. To make things worse, only three players for Nevada scored more than eight points. Will Baker, Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas combined for 73 of Nevada’s 83 points while shooting a combined 26 for 43 from the field.
Senior center Trevin Dorius had an excellent game for the Aggies scoring 11 points and hitting 5 of 6 from the free-throw line but fouled out with just under six minutes to go allowing the seven-footer Baker to dominate the Aggies inside.
Utah State had six turnovers in the second half, forcing only two, and allowed Nevada to score 24 points in the paint in the second half.
USU shot 28% from the field and 2-11 from deep while allowing the Wolfpack to shoot over 62% from the field in the second half.
“We wanted to play physical without fouling, but then we couldn’t play physical without fouling,” Odom said. “They started getting physical and we didn’t respond as well. You learn from it but you have to move on to the next one.”
Guard Steven Ashworth had 15 points, with five boards and three assists.
“There are going to be a lot of things in those last eight minutes that we wish we did differently. You have to give them credit for the way they executed correctly,” Ashworth said.
The next five games for the Aggies aren’t much easier. They host UNLV and San Jose State then hit the road for no. 23 San Diego State and Fresno State, before ending the stretch with New Mexico.
But the Aggies are up for the challenge.
“We take pride in being a disciplined and experienced team. We let ourselves down and our own standards down but we have things we are committed to fixing,” Ashworth said. “We have to be more disciplined down the stretch.”
Utah State will take on UNLV on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM and the Mountain West Network.
Featured image by Sam Warner from the Wyoming game.