USU Men’s Hoops handles NAIA Carroll College

Beginning on Thursday, Utah State Men’s basketball enters its toughest stretch of the non-conference schedule. Four of the next five games are against Top 100 teams in Ken Pom. They take on St. Mary’s (37th), BYU (22nd), Weber State (98th) and Iowa (22nd) in December. 

So a tune-up game against an NAIA school on Monday night seemed like a good idea. 

Utah State (6-1) took on Carroll College (10-1) of Helana, Montana on Monday night in front of an announced attendance of 7,524, defeating them 93 to 63. 

“Great win for us tonight. Carrol’s a well-coached team, they clearly know what they’re trying to accomplish,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “…we prepared for this game no differently than we did for any other game obviously and I thought our guys were ready to play.” 

Brandon Horvath led the way for the Aggies with an efficient 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Justin Bean notched his 6th double-double of the season, with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bean also became the 40th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points, putting his all-time total at 1,011. 

Sean Bairstow, who was out the first six games of the season with a wrist injury, played for the first time this season, posting eight points. He arguably made the play of the game, showing off his athleticism by chasing down a Fighting Saint guard from behind and blocking him in Lebron James-like fashion. 

“Last night, Leah (Dunagan), our athletic trainer, called me and said he’s ready to play, he thinks he can give you some minutes,” Odom said. “…He didn’t look very rusty out there, he looked pretty good.” 

As expected, several bench players received extended minutes. Zee Hamoda had a career-high 15 points off the bench, going on a surge in the first half where he scored 11 straight points to give Utah State a 34-20 lead.  Szymon Zapala added 10 points, and the Aggies had a season-high 45 points from the bench. 

The Aggies, who entered the game with an assist percentage of  69.6% — the second most on the NCAA — continued their impressive teamwork, passing for 26 assists. The high volume passing resulted in high-quality shots — USU finished the night 36-of-63 shooting for 57%. 

“It’s beautiful basketball,” Odom said. “Credit our guys for trusting one another in those situations and just not being afraid to say hey I’m getting it to you, I’m getting it to the next guy. And then It’s just contagious.” 

Playing the starters in the first half, they were especially effective shooting. Utah State was 7-of-14 from 3-point range. Brock Miller had a team-high three 3’s. The Aggies led 55 to 31 at the break. 

It was a light workload for the Utah State starters — Ryan Odom subbed them all out periodically during the middle of the second half. 

Aggies take on Saint Mary’s on Thursday at 7 PM in a blackout game.