New Mexico guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. passes the ball as Utah State guard Mason Falslev defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
The second half of Utah State’s two-game road trip, to put it mildly, did not go well. Fresh off an emotional victory in Las Vegas, the Aggies did not show up ready for its big matchup in The Pit against New Mexico and consequently lost 99-86.
Tuesday’s game provided an eerily similar feel to last Saturday’s, with a lot of the same beats present throughout the game (save for the miracle win at the end). Even down to smaller similarities with things like Ian Martinez going out-of-his mind with 3-point shooting and single-handedly trying to keep the Aggies in the game with his offense.
Starting with the bad implications of that comparison, Utah State’s defense was not capable of stringing together stops. In fact, it was hardly capable of getting stops in general, especially in the first half and it was the 55-point first half that set the stage for New Mexico to hold complete control for nearly the entirety of the game.
“They were faster than us. Their pace. They kept us on our heels all game,” Sprinkle said. “Not just their pace, with their guards they’re so fast and quick and just really good not only in the open court but on ball screens. I thought their bigs punked us.”
The key liability to Utah State’s defense (and another comparison to the UNLV game) was the complete inability to keep New Mexico from getting layups basically at will. The Lobos scored 62 points in the paint, with a total of 33 shots at the rim (of which New Mexico made 25). Many looks at the rim became free throws. New Mexico’s combo of great guard play and savvy forwards created all those open looks. Nelly Joseph led the Lobos in scoring with 26 points on 11 of 12 shooting, but he didn’t create those by himself. All 11 of Joseph’s shots were assisted, 10 of those by Donovan Dent, who finished with 14 assists overall.
“Donovan Dent controlled the game offensively with his ball screen offense,” Sprinkle said.
Dipping back into the growing number of comparisons to Saturday’s game at UNLV, the Aggie offense was solid in many respects. The 86 points were a solid mark to hit and the 44.1 shooting percentage wasn’t anything to be all that ashamed of. What flaws did exist were just enough to ensure no chance of catching up to a team that came nigh upon hitting the century mark. Utah State shot just 4 of 17 on 3-pointers, with all of those makes being contained within a six-minute span in the middle of the second half (more on that later). But worst among its faults were turnovers. Sprinkle pointed out on Monday how key the turnover count would be and he turned out to be an unwilling prophet of doom for the Aggies.
Utah State committed 14 turnovers, 12 of those being steals. These live-ball giveaways were far easier for the Lobos to turn into points, which they did; 20 to be exact including 14 fast break points. In that way, the mistakes the Aggies made on offense turned into more issues for their defense.
New Mexico also made it really hard on Utah State to get its points, despite the decent shooting percentages. The Lobos tallied 10 blocks, by far the most any team has managed against USU this season. Joseph had five of those himself and Toppin had another, but even UNM’s guards were getting in on the action with True Washington and Dent getting two apiece. The aggression at the rim did lead to numerous fouls, the Aggies ending up with 30 free throw attempts, but it seemed to have an overall positive impact for the Lobos.
“We got nothing easy at the rim,” Sprinkle said. “They were making us earn everything.”
The second half provided a hint of a rally, that could have preserved the Aggies’ 15-game win streak, and this is where the Martinez did his “going our of his mind with 3-pointers” bit mentioned earlier. Martinez scored 14 straight points spanning the 14:19 and 12:55 marks of the second half, which included an 8-0 run for the Aggies (part of a slightly better 11-2 run).
“He saved us. We’re on the verge of getting blown out until Ian did that,” Sprinkle said. “It kind of breathed a little of life back into our team. But that’s what he’s capable of doing, just like at UNLV and we’re gonna need him to do it more.”
Martinez’s run sparked what would become the brightest spot of hope the Aggies would have in the game as a mere couple minutes later they’d cut what had once been a 20-point lead all the way down to seven, 79-72, with nine minutes left in the game. Alas, the defense wasn’t up to par with the offensive push and one solid 8-2 run by New Mexico later had sent the lead back to double digits, 85-72. The Aggies never cut the lead to single digits again.
This loss is the first for the Aggies since early November (it’s only other loss aside from the defeat at Bradley) but is just the beginning of the adversity Utah State will have to face in Mountain West play. As formidable as New Mexico is in The Pit, more tough games await that will test whether the Aggies can learn from back-to-back games where one of the team’s perceived strengths became their biggest weakness.
“It shows we have a lot of room for improvement,” Sprinkle said.
The chance to show potential improvement will first come this upcoming Saturday in the form of a home game against Fresno State. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
