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With all due respect to John Denver, the Aggies’ first recreation towards Air Power was a “Rocky Mountain Low.”
Utah State’s offensive efficiency at Colorado Springs on Dec. 29 was its worst of the 12 months, with the Aggies taking pictures a season-low 32.7% on their strategy to a 49-47 loss to the Falcons.
5 weeks later, the Aggies utterly flipped the script, blowing away Air Power 73-46 Tuesday night time on the Spectrum on the power of their greatest taking pictures effort of the 12 months.
And never solely did Utah State knock down 61.9% of its field-goal makes an attempt, the house workforce really solely wanted three gamers to surpass their scoring complete within the loss at Air Power. Ahead Brandon Horvath (17 factors, 9 rebounds, seven assists), ahead Justin Bean (17 factors, 9 rebounds) and swingman Sean Bairstow (15 factors) mixed for 49 factors within the rematch.
“We got here in with a bit of little bit of a bitter style in our mouth from final time once they beat us, so we had a bit of further motivation coming in,” USU ahead Brandon Horvath proclaimed. “We actually locked in throughout the week on their units and the way they play, and we performed means tougher than we did the primary time.”
Tied for eighth place with the Falcons coming into Tuesday’s recreation, Utah State (13-9 general, 4-5 within the Mountain West) has now received three straight video games after dropping 4 in a row. And the Aggies nonetheless have two extra video games at residence this week as they host San Jose State on Thursday in a recreation postponed from New Yr’s Day and UNLV on Saturday afternoon.
“Excited for the fellows, however actually, we’re not happy,” USU head coach Ryan Odom stated. “There’s quite a lot of ball to be performed. We’re enthusiastic about with the ability to play three residence video games in per week right here, however we all know it’s going to be difficult. Our clear focus now could be to be taught from this recreation. Issues that we did nicely, issues that we fell a bit of bit brief on, after which start to relaxation and prep for San Jose State.”
Along with Horvath, Bean and Bairstow, the Aggies additionally obtained 10 factors from sophomore guard Steven Ashworth, whereas welcoming the return of Rylan Jones. The junior guard, who hadn’t seen motion since struggling a concussion in a loss at Fresno State on Jan. 18, got here off the bench to attain 5 factors in 18 minutes.
“I felt fairly good,” Jones stated. “My conditioning is down a bit of bit. It was a protracted week and a half, two weeks, the place I actually didn’t get a lot train. So I felt that a bit of bit. However within the second half I sort of caught my second wind and began to really feel higher.
“I’m simply extraordinarily grateful to be on the market once more enjoying the sport I like with teammates I like, who're enjoying very nicely proper now. And I simply wished to come back in and contribute.”
The Aggies, who knocked down simply 1 of 19 3-point makes an attempt at Colorado Springs, went a good 5 for 16 from lengthy vary on Tuesday. Nonetheless, they outrebounded Air Power by a 36-16 margin, went an unbelievable 16 of 17 from the free-throw line and totaled 20 assists on 26 discipline targets.
“For us, offensively, we performed significantly better on this specific recreation than we did the primary time we performed them,” Odom stated. “The ball was shifting, as evidenced by the 20 assists. We did have too many turnovers (18), however it's a must to give Air Power credit score. They're actually good. I’ve watched them play a ton of their video games.”
In the meantime, Air Power (10-10, 3-6) by no means led by greater than two factors, trailed 36-23 at halftime and had been down by as many as 30 factors late within the recreation.
The Falcons, who're 0-13 all-time in Logan, had two gamers end with 9 factors (Joseph Octave and Nikc Jackson), however no customer reached double figures as Air Power shot simply 36% as a workforce, together with 2 for 15 from 3-point vary.
Air Power’s main scorer, A.J Walker (15.8 ppg), completed with simply eight factors, whereas AF head coach Joe Scott’s second-leading scorer, Ethan Taylor (9.8 ppg), had seven factors earlier than going out with an obvious ankle harm with eight minutes left within the first half.
“They went via their little tough patch, however whenever you’re skilled and also you’ve gone via it and also you’ve had success, you stick with it,” Scott stated of the Aggies. “They’re doing a extremely good job proper now of figuring out who they're, staying with it, and as you do this, gamers begin to come round and begin to play to their capabilities.
“They’re a really unselfish workforce and performed that means tonight. They performed extraordinarily nicely, they at all times play extraordinarily nicely right here traditionally.”
Air Power’s 27-point loss implies that Utah State has now handed its final three opponents their worst lack of the season. Previous to Tuesday, the Aggies beat San Diego State by 18 factors on the Spectrum and clobbered Nevada by 29 factors at Reno.
It’s been a exceptional turnaround for the Aggies, who had misplaced 4 straight video games and 5 out of six in Odom’s first season earlier than upending the Aztecs on Jan. 26.
“Firstly of the 12 months, I believe we had been high 15 within the nation in assists per recreation, after which we sort of obtained away from that in that stretch to begin convention play,” Jones famous. “And credit score to (my teammates), they figured that out and watched quite a lot of movie — I didn’t get to see the movie — however we’ve finished that as a workforce the final three video games, and it’s been fairly evident.”
About the one factor the Aggies didn’t ship on Tuesday was free frozen custard for his or her followers. A promotion at Culver’s promised complimentary desserts for all followers if Utah State scored 75 or extra factors, however the bench was solely capable of contribute two factors after Odom pulled his starters with 2:19 to go.
Nonetheless, USU followers — a lot of them college students sporting free T-shirts within the colours of the Spectrum’s seats — had been handled to 2 alley-oop dunks by Bairstow, together with a driving baseline slam by Bairstow simply earlier than halftime.
That dunk was Utah State’s sixteenth discipline objective of the night time, only one fewer than that they had the whole recreation at Colorado Springs. A 3-pointer by Ashworth 38 seconds within the second half was the Aggies’ seventeenth discipline objective, and the house workforce simply continued to pile it on from there. A driving layup by Bairstow with 13:44 to go left the rating at 52-33 and USU’s field-goal proportion at a surreal .733.
The Falcons briefly displayed hope of a comeback when after Nikc Jackson’s shot was blocked by Aggie Trevin Dorius right into a cheerleader and a fan within the first row, the Air Power ahead got here again to dunk on Dorius after which accomplished the three-point play to tug Air Power to inside 15 factors. Jackson then enticed Dorius into an offensive foul on the different finish, sending USU’s 7-foot middle to the bench with 5 fouls with 10 minutes left.
Nonetheless, that sequence solely served to fireside up the Aggies, who outscored the Falcons 17-2 over the subsequent seven minutes to show the competition right into a runaway.
“We’ve been feeling these video games the place we sort of have it within the first half or late within the second half after which let it slip away,” Horvath stated. “So we sort of know what it takes, and we simply huddled up and stated, ‘Let’s get this proper now,’ and sort of put the hammer down and completed the sport.”