USU wins ugly against Idaho
USU’s 71-57 win over the University of Idaho might have been the ugliest 14-point win in recent memory.
“Some nights you don’t play great and some nights you don’t coach great,” said head coach Stew Morrill.
The Vandals threw a lot of different defenses and looks at the Aggies – keeping them out of a rhythm for most of the game. USU shot only 44 percent from the field and turned the ball over 15 times.
“I feel bad for the crowd,” Morrill said of the 9,741 fans in the Spectrum – the second largest turnout this season. “There’s a good thing they don’t refund in athletics.”
But a win is a win, Morrill said.
And historically, what a win. Routing Idaho gave USU a tie for the best start in school history. The 1959-60 team also started 18-2. The Aggies have also won 26 straight in the conference and 12 straight overall.
Point guard Bernard Rock was key Saturday night as he overcame six turnovers to score a game-high 21 points. He said he’s been working on his jump shot in practice, trying to keep his feet set.
It looked like it paid off as he hit seven of eight shots from the field, including three of four from 3-point land.
Rock gave credit to the big guys – Dimitri Jorssen, Shawn Daniels and Jeremy Vague – for throwing over the double team and finding the open guard.
Rock combined with Curtis Bobb and Tony Brown for four 3-pointers in the 16-3 run in the first half that broke the game open.
Early in the first stanza, the Aggies were having a hard time shaking the pesky Vandals (4-15 in the Big West, 1-7 overall). Nathaniel Watson hit a trey six minutes into the half to cut the lead to just one point, 10-9.
However, the Aggie run was the only time USU clicked the entire game, and the Vandals quickly came storming back to keep the game close.
“We had intensity for a few minutes,” Morrill said. “Then boom, it’s gone.”
Morrill said fans have got to realize the gap between a team with a poor record and a team like USU isn’t much. Idaho proved that Saturday night.
The Vandals held USU without a field goal for a 6:20 run at the end of the first half, cutting the lead to four on two occasions.
But two long jumpers by Brown and Rock and a last-second fast-break layup by Dion Bailey, assisted by Daniels’ long baseball pass, gave USU the security of an eight-point lead at the half.
Eight points was as close as the Vandals got all game as the Aggies made up for what Morrill called poor defense with 11 blocks. Daniels and Vague led the way, blocking four and three, respectively.
Eight minutes into the second half, Vague got a lot of cheers from the crowd for his block of a Vandal that hit of the Idaho player’s head and out of bounds. Vague followed it up with his only basket of the night.
Daniels made up for a lackluster effort on offense (eight points, 0 for 2 from the line) by adding a game-high three steals to his box score.
“It was just one of those nights,” Daniels said.
The Aggies have set themselves up for a big matchup with University of California at Irvine Wednesday. The Anteaters are also 7-0 in the BWC and have only lost two game thus far this season – one of those was to UCLA.
“It’s going to be a tough game down there,” Rock said.