LOGAN – With a chance to make Utah State history, garner more respect from pollsters and analysts and, in general, stay on the winning path, the Aggies fell short. Weber State came into the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and shocked USU by winning 75-72.
Just like football, as some might say. It’s the first time since 1978 the Aggies lost to Weber State in both football and basketball in the same season.
“It’s a crappy feeling,” USU guard Rylan Jones said. “We’re going to think about this one a lot tonight and the things that we fell short on in the second half.”
The first half showed no clue of a potential upset. Utah State were up by 18 with 10 minutes left in the opening half and closed it with a 14-point lead. No trouble, no mess, clean offense, solid defense.
Then a disastrous second half beset the Aggies.
Utah State shot an abysmal 30.8 percent from the field in the second, beyond awful for a team ranked seventh in the nation in field goal percentage heading into the game. A 5-for-8 first half from three turned into a 3-for-15 second half from distance. No shots fell, and USU scored just six points through the first 12 minutes of the second half.
“We played more tentative,” Odom said. “We were playing more not to lose. Just playing a little bit tentative on offense. We weren’t in an attack mode. We had some turnovers, threw it out of bounds one time, just miscommunication there. We took tough shots at the rim, challenging big guys in there at the rim. That’s going to be a hard shot and all of the sudden that gets them going the other way.”
There was no one player going cold that led to the Aggies as a whole freezing up. Rather, it was just about everyone. Taylor Funk went 2-for-9 from three for one of his worst shooting nights as an Aggie. And Sean Bairstow – who scored eight points in the first two minutes of the game and 12 overall in the first half – simply disappeared under the veil of foul trouble.
“It was a big impact, because he got off to a great start,” Odom said. “Sean was playing really well, a big reason why we had the lead. Then he picks up the third (foul), we take him out and they whittle the lead down. And then he gets his fourth.”
It didn’t help that Utah State got back Rylan Jones and Funk from injuries (Funk returning from a one-game absence and Jones playing for the first time since Dec. 1). They just could not get it going.
Weber State, meanwhile, upped its offensive pace, shooting 59 percent percent in the second half after making just 39 percent in the first. The Wildcats manufactured shots, getting inside the paint and then punched above their weight in 3-point shooting. On the season, Weber State’s made 34 percent of their threes. On Monday they made 50 percent (10-of-20).
“It was just honestly on our lack of focus and discipline to get to their shooters and we just came out of the second half and weren’t ready to go,” Jones said.
Weber State cut Utah State’s 43-29 lead down bit by bit in the second half until the Wildcats tied it 48-48 and then took a 50-48 lead.
“Credit to them,” Jones said. “We punched them in the mouth in the first half and got off to a great lead and they did the same to us in the second half.”
Dillon Jones led the way for Weber State with 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists. And though Odom credited Jones, saying he’s a “dynamite” player, the Wildcats were balanced. Five players reached double figures for them, led by Jones’ 16 and 14 from Junior Ballard off the bench. Ballard had seven of his points in the final three minutes.
Late in the game Utah State finally began to hit some shots, led by Steven Ashworth who scored 10 of his team-leading 16 points with under four minutes to play. With around four minutes left, and the Aggies down 59-56 Ashworth drained back-to-back threes and had eight straight points in a roughly one-minutes span. Normally that kind of spark is what put teams ahead in that situation, but Weber State answered right back, answering Ashworth’s buckets to a T, preserving its late lead.
“If you’re trying to whittle that lead down” Odom said, “you can’t trade the baskets at that point. Time was tight and we were one for five on stops at the end of the game.”
The Aggies will now prepare for a fairly quick turnaround relative to their schedule the last few weeks. They leave Tuesday morning on a flight to Hawaii. USU will play three games in four days, including a Christmas Day game against a to-be-determined opponent. First up will be a matchup with Seattle, an 8-3 squad with three wins in its last four games.
The preferred method of entering the tournament would have been a 10-0 start and a win earlier in the week. But the veteran Aggie squad has dealt with plenty of losses in the past and will put their minds to resetting the winning streak.
“Tomorrow is a new day and we’re going to come back, we’re going to need to be more focused, more disciplined and be ready to take on tomorrow,” Jones said.
Utah State’s matchup with Seattle will tip off at 3 p.m. on Dec. 22 with the following games of the Diamond Head Classic taking place on Dec. 23 and Dec. 25. The latter opponents will be determined by results of games played by the teams present.,
