Boise State guard Marcus Shaver Jr., front left, attempts a steal at midcourt but fouls Utah State guard Steven Ashworth during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, in Boise, Idaho. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP)
BOISE – Utah State got its first real taste of just how tough the Mountain West Conference is this year, especially in road games, falling in Boise to the Broncos by 23 points, 82-59 – the worst loss in the Ryan Odom era at USU.
From the very start the Aggies struggled to get defensive stops on Boise State. Outside of a three-minute stretch in the first half in which they went 1-for-7 from the field, the Broncos made 67 percent of their field goals. Whatever went up for Boise State seemingly always went down through the hoop. Tyson Degenhart led the way for the home team with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go with 10 rebounds for the entire game.
“There was some execution things that we simply didn’t’ execute,” USU senior Sean Bairstow said, “and I feel like they executed on a lot of their stuff. They got a lot of clean looks.”
Conversly, Utah State couldn’t buy a bucket if it had bought the winning lottery ticket on the way to the arena. The Aggies shot 11-of-31 from in the first half including an abysmal 2-for-13 from three. For long stretches USU could only get good offensive looks by getting the free throw line, and it did often. However, Utah State went 6-for-14 on free throws in the first half, showing just how unable the Aggies were at getting the ball in the basket.
“We had some open looks, some that we’ve been making, that didn’t go down that could have changed the feeling that we had within the game,” Odom said. “But they didn’t. And Boise was able to secure those rebounds and turned some into baskets.”
Bairstow also said the Aggies were “getting a lot of the shots we wanted” but added that he felt “we were a bit hesitant to shoot the ball in the first place. We just weren’t ourselves tonight.”
“(Boise State) played a great game defensively. But I feel like it was more us,” Bairstow said.
Overall, it was the second-worst shooting night for Utah State this season, only slightly ahead of the 37.5 percent it shot in the loss to SMU. The 33.3 percent the Aggies short from three is the fourth-worst mark.
Naturally, two sides living at completely different ends of the field goal percentage spectrum could only produce a lopsided halftime score. And so Boise State led by 15 points at the break, 45-30, leaving Utah State scrambling to find answers on both ends of the court. Bairstow said that during the many stoppages of play, the talk during the huddles was about “bring(ing) more energy” and “staying together” but that they just couldn’t’ swing it in this game.
Odom mentioned a few adjustments he made, one of which (temporarily switching to a zone defense shortly before half) he said was a mistake on his part. The Aggies also tried to adjust its pick-and-roll coverage because the Broncos, as Odom said, were “getting behind our defense way too much” in the first half
But no matter what adjustments were made, mentally or schematically, it couldn’t slow down Boise State. And coming out of the half the Broncos made their first three shots of the second half. A bit later, a 6-0 run gave Boise State its largest lead of 24.
Further hurting the Aggies’ cause was the exit of point guard Rylan Jones who was injured after taking a charge with just over 17 minutes to play in the game. He was down on the floor for several minutes being administered to by training staff before being taken to the locker room. He did not return to the game. Odom said following the game that he didn’t know the extent of Jones’ injury, only that he’d taken a knock to the chin.
Utah State made cursory moves toward a comeback, draining four 3-pointers in a short span mid-way through the second half that brought the game back from a 24-point contest all the way to a 15-point one. Had the Aggies continued that pace, a comeback would have happened, but the burst stalled, allowing the Broncos to re-establish its 20-point lead before the end of the game.
A couple of USU players did have decent games. Taylor Funk had 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Bairstow had 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting. For Bairstow it’s his ninth double-digit scoring game in his last 10 outings after scoring in double figures just once in the first six games of the season.
The Aggies will return home after going 1-1 on its road trip to Air Force and Boise State. They will welcome Wyoming to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The Cowboys have struggled this year, in part due to injuries, including losses in their last five games.
