LAS VEGAS — As the Mountain West tournament semifinal game between Utah State and Colorado State crossed under seven minutes to play, the HURD began a mid-game edition of its popular “I believe” chant. At the time, the Aggies were trailing the Rams big, having faced a deficit as large as 28 points.
Whether out of misguided hope, or an attempt to manifest something in a game that had gone horribly wrong, the Spectrum on Wheels was trying to get its team to salvage something in the Thomas & Mack Center.
The win, to the dismay of the hopeful fans, did not materialize. Colorado State would claim an 83-72 victory and a spot in the title game against Boise State. But in the defeat, the Aggies still salvaged some of their pride by cutting the nearly 30-point hole down to seven points in the final minutes of the game. Runs of 16-1 and 9-1 had the Aggie fans believing, it just didn’t end up being enough.
“Every huddle, we just said, ‘We can do it, we got plenty of time,'” USU point guard Jordy Barnes said. “We were just trying to fight back and play as hard as we could, and I think we just saw a few shots fall and got a few steals and turnovers. And, I mean, we started getting it going, but we just ran out of time.”
A peculiar aspect of the run is that it occurred with a pair of true freshmen on the court for most of it. Barnes and Isaac Davis each played north of 12 minutes with Barnes scoring three points and Davis scoring four and grabbing two boards to go with two assists. Sophomore Karson Templin also saw the court a lot during the more positive section of the game and scored 11 points with nine rebounds. The plus/minus section of the box score reflected their better play. The Aggies were +15 over the Rams when Barnes was on the court, +11 with Davis and +8 in Templin’s minutes.
“Our seniors just didn’t have it. You’ve got to have energy, bounce in your step. For whatever reason they didn’t have it,” Aggies head coach Jerrod Calhoun said.
Utah State simply wound up losing the game in the first 30 minutes of the game, the time in which the 28-point lead was built. Colorado State came out of the gates red-hot and continued a trend of playing really well on offense against Utah State. Against all other opponents this season, Colorado State has shot 47.6 percent from the field, 34.6 percent on 3-pointers. But in three games against the Aggies, the Rams have shot 53.9 percent overall and 51.4 percent from deep.
Not exactly a fun trend for USU to see from an opponent. Though the Rams, winners of nine straight games now (two of those against the Aggies), have certainly enjoyed the hot shooting.
“I think we have good game plans going into the game and trusting ourselves,” Nique Clifford said of playing the Aggies. “We just try and find out spots and then when we run the offense that we’re capable of, we get open shots so everybody is confident taking those shots and knocking them down.”
“(Colorado State is) playing really good basketball,” Barnes said. “I think that’s just what happens once you see one fall you get some confidence going.”
Colorado State jumped out to a 10-3 lead, making each of its first four shots of the game. Utah State then made its one significant push to make it a close game, powered entirely by Mason Falslev, who ended the night with a team-high 22 points. The sophomore hit a 3-pointer and converted an and-one to cut the lead to 10-9. But from there, no answer came from the Aggies as Colorado State continuously piled on offense.
A 13-2 run blew the game open, turning the one-point advantage into a 23-11 lead for Colorado State (Falslev once again being the lone source of offense with a layup to mark the Aggies’ only score during that span). From there, the Rams packed the lead with successive runs. A 10-0 run late in the half punctuated a 49-30 first half domination.
The eventual low point for Utah State was the 13:50 mark of the second half when Colorado State took its largest lead, 64-36. But it was from there the Aggies fought, out-scoring the Rams by 17 points the rest of the way to make it respectable.
While this defeat on its face represents a third straight year without an appearance in the conference tournament final (after a four-year span in which the Aggies were in three title bouts), the bigger concerns at this point are the immediate future. Particularly the upcoming Selection Sunday. Calhoun spoke with 100 percent confidence that his team is getting into the NCAA Tournament. The collective opinion of bracketologists on BracketMatrix are united in backing up that confidence as they’ve universally had the Aggies in the field for months.
What will concern fans, as it surely concerns Calhoun, is Utah State’s worrying dip in form since February. The Aggies dominated in November, December and January, only to see a drop-off from February on. USU’s largest margin of defeat up to Jan. 31 was three points. Since then, the Aggies have suffered four losses by 11 points or more. Turning things around in time for what will be the biggest game of the year next week is paramount.
“I think it’s good, I think, you get out of league play,” Calhoun said. “To see another team from another conference. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that. We had great success in the non-conference. That’s why we’re going to be in the NCAA Tournament. If we didn’t we would be out.”
Perhaps the success against non-Mountain West teams will be Utah State’s key to getting a second straight victory in the Big Dance.
