LOGAN – After allowing yet another big run to an opponent early in a game and after trailing by 16 at halftime because of those early mistakes, Utah State still had a chance to win at home against San Diego State.
Down 62-61, the Aggies had the ball and just 10.2 seconds on the clock. Out of a timeout, Max Shulga had his number called, just like he had against San Jose State for a crucial possession in the team’s win over the Spartans 17 days previous. It was even the exact same play. Shulga tried to dance around his man but had to settle for a mid-range jumper – which clanked off the right side of the rim and out.
“We’ve run that play before and it has worked really well,” USU guard Steven Ashworth said. “Max is great at drawing fouls. Especially when we’re in the double-bonus and down by one we knew it was an opportunity for Max to go create and make a play. I was coming off a pin-down screen from Dan (Akin) and then Dan was going to screen Max. We didn’t execute quite as well as we would have hoped and we’ve executed it better in the past.
“But we trust Max in that situation and really we’d just trust anybody that coach drew up the play for. There’s a lot of different options in it and Max took the shot. We’ve seen it go in before, we’ve seen it go in before in the game. I was definitely confident that Max was going to hit that. But it didn’t drop.”
Hope drained from the crowd as San Diego State corralled the rebound and were fouled. Keshad Johnson only made one free throw but with 1.8 seconds and a full court distance away from a potential game-tying field goal, chances weren’t high. The Aggies caught a bit of a break though as SDSU tipped the full-court pass out of bounds on the baseline. But the tip meant time ticked off the clock and USU had just 0.2 seconds to get a shot of and the in-bounds pass was tipped for good measure.
63-61. Game, set, match to the Aztecs.
The dramatic ending capped off a contest filled with high emotions. Five technical fouls were called, three players ejected and one coach got ejected as well.
Those ejections all came in one spurt. With just under seven minutes to play, USU forward Taylor Funk had a shot blocked out of bounds and at the dead ball, the under-eight minute media timeout was called and teams headed back to their respective benches. Only on the way words got exchanged and that led to players leaving benches. Funk got called for a technical which among other things led to Ryan Odom charging into the fray. Odom had a heated discussion with one of the referees and was eventually handed a technical foul.
The heated exchange that delayed the San Diego State-Utah State game. pic.twitter.com/jxpcPUMHXI
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 9, 2023
“It got a little bit heated there and certainly not hard to figure out what happened there,” Aggies head coach Ryan Odom said. “My goal was to get everybody back and then the technical was called and so I was a little irritated at the technical.”
Odom said the technical he received was justified given his actions, even joking later that he had been hoping to go the full year without getting a technical foul called on him.
Two of the player ejections were handed to Utah State players – Conner Gillis and Connor Odom – along with one unnamed coach. San Diego State’s Darrion Trammell was also ejected. The reason for all four was the same: coming off the bench and engaging with players on the court at an inappropriate time.
That scuffle and its consequences (and the long break for reviews) interrupted a run from San Diego State that largely defined the game up until Utah State’s late rally and was the reason the Aggies trailed by 16 points at the half. SDSU went on a 20-4 run that flipped a 13-8 Utah State advantage into what would become a 44-28 halftime lead.
“The first half obviously was disjointed in a lot of ways for us,” Odom said. “Not as much for San Diego State. They played well. Their defense really impacted us in a negative way. They were getting out on Steven, getting out on Taylor. We were not as organized as we needed to be.”
The run put the Aggies behind the eight-ball, a lot like how an 18-0 run by the Aztecs in the Jan. 25 matchup between the two in California did. But just like that previous contest, Utah State fought back and had a chance to win, getting even closer this time.
Utah State buckled down in a big way on defense. After allowing 44 first-half points, the Aggies only allowed 19 in the second half. Over the final 5:40 of the game, San Diego State didn’t hit a single field goal and scored a single point. And it was in that span that the Aggies made their move – a 9-0 run that brought a 62-52 game to the 62-61 score and the ending detailed above.
“I’m proud of the guys, proud of the effort that they put in to give ourselves a chance,” Odom said. “The defensive intensity and effort in that second half was really impressive. A ton of plays throughout that gave us a fighting chance.”
Despite the big run allowed for a second time against the Aztecs (and also against Boise State and Nevada), one of the things the team is taking away is that they’re playing right with the best teams in the conference.
“We’re right there. There’s a lot of things that I think are positive despite the fact that we have a negative result. Definitely a lot of things to learn from,” Ashworth said, who added: “We proved to ourselves that even when (runs) happen we can come back and we can play really great defense. We proved to ourselves that we’re great defensively when we want to be.”
Utah State falls to fourth place in the Mountain West standings with this loss. Next up is a road trip to California and a matchup with San Jose State. That game will tip off at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
