Examining the Aggies’ sudden issues with 3-point defense and free throw shooting | Sports
In each of the last two games, Utah State men’s basketball has walked off the court victorious, one at San Jose State and another against Boise State in the Spectrum. Both were exciting games in their own way and both saw some pretty similar themes. Two that stand out the most are the Aggies’ inability to hit free throws and their opponents inability to miss on 3-pointers. Starting with the latter, as it dominated discourse for both of the games against the Spartans and Broncos, those two teams made a combined 28 threes against the Aggies last week. It’s quite the outlying week, especially based on the rest of the season. On Jan. 6, USU ranked a solid T-122nd in 3-point defense, allowing teams to shoot 31.6 percent from deep. Seven days later, the Aggies rank 231st in the same category with the allowed percentage rising to 33.8. Last week was an especially curious outlier based on who pulled off that 3-point shooting. San Jose State and Boise State entered their respective games against Utah State shooting 32.6 and 29.9 percent, or a combined 31.2 percent. They then each went on to make a season-high 14 threes apiece, a combined