What you may have missed in Aggie hoops
The Aggies never say die.
Utah State has won six of its last seven dating back to the first day of winter break, the lone loss coming in overtime versus South Dakota State in the final game of the Gossner tournament. In that game, USU trailed by 15 points with under 6 minutes remaining in regulation and shot a season-worst 1-of-14 from beyond the arc.
Despite a poor shooting night from virtually everywhere on the floor (21-of-55 from the floor and 71 percent from the foul line), the Aggies never counted themselves out of the contest and stormed back to tie the game 61-61 to force overtime. South Dakota State scored the first seven points in extra time before the Aggies responded again, falling three points short of forcing a second overtime. Darius Perkins and Julion Pearre both had decent looks from deep as time expired, but it just wasn’t USU’s night from three-point range. If there’s one thing Aggie hoops has proven this season, it’s that they’re never out of a game. Of course, that has a lot to do with the next point —
USU’s defense can lock down when it needs to.
The Aggies certainly didn’t shoot their way back into the game against South Dakota St. What they did instead was even more impressive — USU didn’t allow a single basket for the final 5:45 of the second half. Aggie hoops has demonstrated this ability to frustrate teams defensively several times this year, a surprising development for a group of athletes still relatively new to the team. In their first game together, the Aggies held Weber to 14 second-half points on their way to a huge 18-point comeback victory at home.
Fast forward to USU’s first conference matchup against San Jose State, where the Aggies trailed 10-8 early before a ridiculous 27-2 run saw the Spartans score just 12 in the first half, and finish the contest with 33 points to USU’s 61. The ability to close out games on the defensive end is a major upside for a team that will only get better as they gain more experience.
The team seems to genuinely like each other.
For this to make sense, I first have to recount one of my most vivid memories from last season. Down in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Tournament, the Aggies played a sloppy game against first-round opponent Colorado State, before suddenly scoring 11 points in the final 90 seconds to beat CSU. The post-game press conference for the Rams was absolutely devastating. Athletes answered questions with one-word answers while burying faces in hands. The loss was a shock to them, and it should’ve been. For nearly 39 minutes, CSU completely outworked, outhustled and outplayed USU. As the players got up to head to the locker room, their head coach Larry Eustachy told them he was proud of them, and that he’d be back in the locker room in a few minutes.
I love my Utah State Aggies, but that kind of passion was completely absent from last year’s team in the tournament and for stretches throughout the regular season. Case in point: When the Aggies played inspired basketball, they stuck with Xavier Thames and the No. 7 SDSU Aztecs through four quarters and an overtime in what was certainly the most thrilling game of the year. When the team lacked that competitive fire, it got thrashed by the same Aztec team 73-39 in the second round of last year’s MWC tournament, and didn’t look like they particularly cared.
This year’s Aggies are a special group. From the moment they executed a perfectly-timed off-the-backboard alley-oop dunk in their first game together to David Collette’s recent buzzer-beater in Boise, there’s no doubt that this team loves playing together. They make each game fun to watch no matter what the score is. Which reminds me …
USU hoops plays best with a chip on its shoulder.
Utah State was picked to finish tenth out of 11 teams in the Mountain West this season, and while the Aggies certainly have a long road ahead of them, the conference is currently in a state of chaos — and USU is 2-0.
Fresno State managed to beat conference powerhouse SDSU by two before losing its next game against New Mexico by double-digits. Wyoming boasts a 2-0 conference record after getting a big win over UNLV. The once top-25 ranked Colorado State Rams have dropped out of the top 25. SDSU narrowly avoided a huge upset, beating Air Force by just four. The point is, the conference is up for grabs, and after stealing a big-time win on the road in Boise, the Aggies are in the mix early.
—Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism and communication. He spends most of his time trying to single-handedly vote Damian Lillard into the NBA all-star game, and is very much looking forward to the Seahawks vs. Patriots Super Bowl next month.