LOGAN – Wednesday will mark a full week since the last time Utah State men’s basketball took to the court for what ultimately became the team’s first loss in just under a month, and the first defeat in Mountain West play. The Aggies had scraped by with six consecutive wins decided by seven points or less before finally succumbing to the dangers of playing such close basketball on a consistent basis by losing to UNLV last Wednesday.
The rest finally attained by Utah State for the full week was well-earned, having played four games in an 11-day span, all of those games being close, hard-fought contests. Worse still, illness began spreading through the team on the tail end of that stretch. Isaac Johnson was struck first, missing the game against Boise State and then moving to Isaac Davis who, alongside Johnson, didn’t make the trip to UNLV. Karson Templin then fell ill the day of the game against the Rebels, though he fought through it and played a season-high 25 minutes.
Time off was dearly needed and didn’t come a moment too soon. Head coach Jerrod Calhoun made sure to give his players a rest with three days off last week following the UNLV game on Wednesday (the days off split up by one practice in between the second and third off day). Calhoun, himself, actually needed some time off too as players weren’t the only one to catch the virus making its way through the locker room.
“It kind of hit me when we got back (from Las Vegas),” Calhoun said. “I was laid up for 48 hours. So I know how these guys have felt.”
According to Calhoun, the team has largely worked its way through the illness, and everyone seemed healthy and accounted for at practice earlier this week, though there still could be some lingering effects and rust in this week’s games.
“We’re starting to get our lungs back, which is good,” Calhoun said. “We’re just going to have to sub guys against Nevada early and often, because I do think we still got a little bit of (sickness).”
The resumption of play will reveal how Utah State will continue on its journey toward defending its Mountain West title. Although the Aggies’ most recent game was a loss, the fact those L’s have been such a rare sight are a great sign for the Aggies and their hopes at title contention. The defeat did hand over first place to New Mexico, whose extra games give it sole possession of the top spot with an 8-1 conference record, but it’s only the extra games that have created that space. Utah State fully controls its destiny for a conference title. And while almost anyone inside the top four or five in the standings can at least mathematically say that, the Aggies’ claim to that control will feel a little more real. The Lobos and Aggies are the only teams that have just one loss in conference play.
Upcoming games against Nevada, New Mexico, and a rematch against UNLV will give Utah State a shot at re-establishing some of the lost luster from their NCAA Tournament resume, something else that took a hit with that loss to the Rebels. The Aggies remain the presumptive auto-bid from the Mountain West, and according to Bracket Matrix on Jan. 22, they’re projected to be a seven seed. That’s down from being projected as a six seed just a week ago. The loss to UNLV handed USU a Quad 2 loss, bringing the Aggies’ record in Quad 1 or Quad 2 games to 7-2. Wins over Nevada and New Mexico in the coming weeks would raise that mark to 9-2, which would be far and away the best in the conference.
What will certainly help Utah State get its feet back under it is that three of the next four games are at home, with the one road game being at Air Force, by far the worst team in the conference so far.
As much as there is plenty to be excited about, there are also things for the Aggies to be working on to fine-tune their run toward a successful title defense. And if there is one issue that has indeed popped up in most of the recent games it has to be rebounding. And that will be tested immediately against a Nevada team that’s rebounded the ball well of late.
“Number one is rebounding,” Calhoun said when asked about improvements. “(Nevada is) plus seven in their last five games (in rebounding). So they’re big, they’re long, they’re tough. Got to rebound the ball.”
In the past four games, USU has a net rebounding advantage of just +0.5. It may seem nice that it’s on the positive side, but considering three of the teams the Aggies faced rank outside the top 230 in rebounding percentage (two of them ranking outside the top 300), the fact it’s that close to being even is practically a travesty.
The loss to UNLV is perhaps the most extreme example. Entering last Wednesday’s game, the Rebels ranked 330th in rebounds per game, and yet the proceeded to grab 37 rebounds to USU’s 34, including what became a new season-high 14 offensive rebounds. It’s also the most offensive boards the Aggies have given up in a single game all year.
Why this has suddenly popped up is something that’s hard to pin down precisely, even for Calhoun. But it’s an issue that has his full attention.
“Rebounding is a really weird stat. It’s something (Boston Celtics head coach) Joe Mazzulla and I talk about all the time,” Calhoun said. “If you have great shooting games there’s nothing to rebound. If the other team’s making shots there’s nothing to rebound. But to me there has to be a consistency of going (for rebounds). When you go on offensive rebounding good things will happen. Same thing with defense rebounding.
“When you you hit somebody you got a really good chance to get the ball. I don’t think we’ve hit people enough. I don’t think we’ve played physical enough. Some of it was fatigue. I think some of it becomes a we’re winning and your warts get covered up right and you got to continue to be a great basketball team by working on some of your weaknesses. And that that’s been a weakness the last four or five games.”
Beyond rebounding, finding a specific issue in USU’s performances over the last few weeks of games is a little difficult. Mainly because there’s not been one thing they’ve done well in every game or done poorly in every game. It’s been a mixed bag. The problem is that the good play in some areas hasn’t coincided with good play in other areas. For example, the Aggies held San Diego State and Nevada to 66 and 64 points, respectively, but only scored 67 and 69 points on offense. Great defense, not-as-satisfactory offense. That the flipped over the next three games in which USU scored 80-plus points against Fresno State, San Jose State and Boise State but allowed at least 78 to each of those teams. Great offense, very questionable defense.
Trends like 3-point defense and USU’s own free throw shooting could be picked out, but both are likely short-term trends. Yes, it’s not fun to see that four of Utah State’s five worst free throw shooting games have happened since Jan. 4, but that is something that should work itself out. The Aggies shot a pretty healthy 75.2 percent as a team through November and December and will likely return to a similar percentage. Likewise, the 3-point defense that became a concern against SJSU and Boise State, where USU allowed a combined 28 threes in just two games, may have already sorted itself out a bit after the Aggies held UNLV to 6 of 25 on threes last time out, a return to previous good defense beyond the arc for USU (though that will also get an immediate test against a Nevada team that ranks 21st in the nation in 3-point percentage).
The biggest trick at this point is to just find some consistency and get good performances on both sides of the court at the same time.
“I’m waiting for an explosion. And that means holding somebody in the low 60s and going to get high 80s or mid 80s,” Calhoun said. “We’ve been one-trick pony. The last game, we hold a team of 65 and we score 62 points. I mean, it’s crazy. And then the other four games, it’s our offense really carrying us.
“There’s good and bad to that right? I mean, you could be bad at both. You could be only good at one, right? Or with us, we’re kind of, some game’s good and some game’s bad, both sides of the ball.”
