Utah State’s season comes to close with hard-fought loss to Arizona | Sports
SAN DIEGO — On Sunday, the Utah State Aggies stood as the last bastion of hope for mid-majors and Cinderella’s in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The ninth-seeded squad from Logan planted their feet in front of the Goliath of one-seed Arizona, arguably the best college team in the entire country. For 40 minutes, Utah State refused to back down. Although they trailed by by eight points less than four minutes into the game, and by as many as 18 in the second half, Aggie Nation watched as their team fought to climb a mountain despite every disadvantage college basketball could throw at them. But in the end, dreams of glass slippers and “One Shining Moment” faded amid a chorus of “U of A” chants as Arizona fans celebrated their teams 78-66 victory over the upstart Aggies. “Hats off to Coach Lloyd and the Wildcats. Obviously we didn’t like our seed, whatever it was, a week and a half ago. I think we played certainly better than a 9 seed and didn’t deserve that,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “But we didn’t pout. We didn’t sulk. We rolled up our sleeves. We had great prep. And these guys laid it all