LOGAN, Utah — Nevada handed Utah State their second loss in a row, beating the Aggies 85 to 72. The Wolf Pack broke a six-game losing streak by splitting the season series with Utah State.
“You have to give them a ton of credit,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “They clearly were determined in this game and we did not have a determined mentality or enough of a determined mentality to try to dig the game out.
The Wolf Pack’s offense in the second half made the difference. Nevada outscored the Aggies by 18 points in that period. Additionally, the Wolf Pack made half of their threes, knocking down 10 with seven of them coming in the second half.
“The start of the game was suspect. The start of the second half was suspect. It wasn’t one of our better efforts obviously,” Odom said.
The Aggies could not contain guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. He scored 27 points while knocking down 6 threes.
“Cambridge is on fire,” guard Rylan Jones said. “We just did not do a good job. We let him get going and he’s an elite scorer and shooter. He makes hard, difficult shots and we shouldn’t have let him get them.”
Cambridge got off 16 shots during the game. Nine of them came from beyond the arc.
“If he gets them off, he’s going to make them,” Odom said. “You can’t give good players that many opportunities.”
Guard Grant Sherfield also put up big numbers for Nevada. He finished with 24 points and helped ice the game by making 12 free throws on 14 attempts.
The Aggies also struggled to move the ball and protect it. After averaging 6 turnovers per game against UNLV and San Jose State, Utah State gave up 11 at Wyoming and 14 against Nevada.
In the first four minutes, the Aggies had five turnovers which threw them off their game.
“That’s not a good start and they just kind of built from that,” Jones said. “We kind of got a little sporadic, a little crazy. Tried to make some one-foot jumping in the air plays instead of playing on two feet, staying on the ground and pivoting… credit to their defense.”
In comparison, the Wolf Pack had eight turnovers which is tied for the second-fewest by an Aggie opponent this season.
On the bright side, forward Brandon Horvath had a memorable night for Utah State. He set a career-high in points with 29 while making nine free throws in the first half. Horvath also had eight rebounds and two assists.
“Brandon played well. He stuck to what was working for him and that was getting in and around the basket,” Odom said. “I thought the guys did a nice job of hitting him on some of the rolls, especially in the first half. He drew six fouls and that was his teammates finding him.”
Despite his fantastic performance, Odom said Horvath is more focused on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
“I know he would trade that effort offensively for a ‘W’ in a hot second. He wasn’t jumping for joy in that locker room. I can tell you that,” Odom said.
With the loss, Utah State falls to 15-11 and 6-7 in the Mountain West. The Aggies will try to stop their two-game skid on Tuesday when they visit San Diego State.
