Utah State

[filbert]

Re: Utah State

Sounds like Steve Imming won't be sending Christmas cards to this ref crew . . .

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Utah State

it's rather funny, i have never heard steve this dumbfounded with the officials, situation, or ending of a game.

[filbert]

Re: Utah State

it's rather funny, i have never heard steve this dumbfounded with the officials, situation, or ending of a game.

Yeah, "dumbfounded" is probably the right word.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Utah State

Weird ending. Apparently a player walked off the court with the ball with 4 seconds left to play, and there was no call by the ref for traveling or anything. ... Rabbits seemed to play decent tonight, even though they got beat by 21. Utah State is a tough opponent.

[filbert]

Re: Utah State

Nagy's WNAX comments:

They were shooting 50% we were in the 30's and were down by nine at the half. We competed tonight. Had we played like this against Idaho State we might have beaten them.

Ben is just not healthy, we haven't figured out what it is. Cadwell just looks tired.

Gilbert ran the floor well, defended, probably the best I've seen him compete, physical, didn't back down. If we can get him to that level the next three years, get Steve back, get Cadwell, I think we'll be in great shape. If Mohamed can give us this consistent effort things look good for us.

Mohamed needs to rebound more, I'm not worried about the points. I think he did a tremendous job. I think he played the whole 40 minutes.

They run so much good stuff, they're hard to cover, they run the same stuff whether your zone or man to man, well versed in their set plays, take care of the basketball. They're starting three seniors and bring another off the bench.

In another two or three years I really think we'll be able to compete with teams like this. Need to add a few pieces.

We haven't seen pressure like this the whole year, having 16 turnovers isn't too bad.

I was able to get after the guys for mistakes because I didn't have to yell at them about competing tonight. We have a good chance to win Monday night if we have the same effort.

I don't know where they get the referees from...I thought they did OK tonight, I didn't have too many complaints. You just don't get the calls on the road.

[filbert]

Re: Utah State

Nagy sounded 1000% more upbeat tonight than he was after the Idaho State game.

[SiouxFallsJack]

Re: Utah State

Nagy sounded 1000% more upbeat tonight than he was after the Idaho State game.

I might say he sounded 10000% more upbeat than the other night. What's up with the officiating in the state of Utah ??? Weren't there some questionable calls during the Southern Utah football game last year?

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Utah State

I might say he sounded 10000%  more upbeat than the other night.  What's up with the officiating in the state of Utah ???  Weren't there some questionable calls during the Southern Utah football game last year?

I think we might have gotten spoiled in the NCC with the commish appointing the refs and taking all the heat from AD and Coaches during the week after a game where the calls may have been bad.

Noel Olson as NCC Commissioner was particularily a great  mediator in claims of bad officating.

Now in D1, we dont have anyone to call when things go bad in terms of calls. I dont know the  details on the calls that Steve Emming was referring too, but I agree Coach Nagy is right, you dont get calls on the road.

I happy we competed tonight, which is not to say that losing is a good thing. It isn't, but you can't expect a great deal playing a big dance opponent that has seniors playing against our guys.

[NorCalJack]

Re: Utah State

Did anyone else see the Jackrabbit highlights on ESPN?

They were doing a show on bubble teams for the NCAA tourney and mentioned Utah State and then started showing highlights of tonight's game with the Jacks. The ironic thing was all of the highlights were of the Jacks scoring, including a dunk by Gilbert. Nice exposure if nothing else.

Go State!!! ;D ;D ;D

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Utah State

Some good pictures from the game:

http://utahstateaggies.collegesports...012706aaa.html

[jack100]

Re: Utah State

http://hjnews.townnews.com/

USU chalks up ugly win
By Shawn Harrison

Pak scores 14, has 7 assists

Chalk up another win for Utah State.

Sure, it wasn’t pretty at times and downright ugly at others. But like Aggie head coach Stew Morrill has said before, the end result will show up in the left column of the standings.

USU led from start to finish against Division I-newcomer South Dakota State and left the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum with a 72-51 victory Friday night. The Aggies (14-4) took care of business, but let the Jackrabbits spring back to life several times.

Morrill was visibly upset during the game and didn’t spend much time addressing his team following the win. His postgame comments with the media began with a “next question” after being asked about his team’s effort.

“I thought we were real sluggish,” Morrill said. “... I wasn’t really enthused with the way we played. I thought South Dakota State, for having been on the road, came in and played really hard.”

The Jackrabbits (5-14), who lost at Idaho State on Wednesday, did not hop away and hide when they found themselves down 18 at one point in the first half. They kept hanging around and got within nine at the break.

“(USU) is a tremendous basketball team, and they play great together, but our kids competed,” South Dakota State head coach Scott Nagy said. “You know, this is a tough place to play.”

The USU students were on the Jackrabbits from the start, but they also cheered for them at times in the second half.

“Tonight was frustrating,” said Aggie guard Jaycee Carroll, who led all scorers with 18 points. “We would kind of get going, then stop and lose our intensity.”

The scoring spurts for USU did come in waves. An 11-0 run gave the Aggies a 13-1 lead four minutes into the contest. Then a 14-3 run upped the advantage to 30-12 with seven minutes left in the half.

Then came the errors, missed shots and getting shots blocked for the home team. USU did not make a field goal over the last seven minutes of the opening half, allowing the Jackrabbits to get within 33-24 at the break.

“South Dakota State was a lot better than they looked on film,” said Aggie guard David Pak, who had 14 points and a game-high seven assists. “They definitely showed up tonight.”

“The difference between tonight and two nights ago at Idaho State is that our kids competed,” Nagy said. “... If we played that good two nights ago, I think we would have beat Idaho State.”

SDSU just had a rough time shooting Friday night. The Jackrabbits made 33.3 percent of their shots, and their leading scorer was held to less than half his average. Matt Cadwell, who came into the game averaging 16.1 points a game, scored six on 1-of-10 shooting.

The visitors were led by Andre Gilbert (12 points) and Mohamed and Berte (11) in the scoring department. Berte grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds.

Joining Carroll and Pak in double figures were Nate Harris (15) and Cass Matheus (10). Matheus had a team-best six boards.

“We did what we needed to do,” Morrill said. “There’s no question it’s hard in the middle of conference to play a game such as this, there is no question. But I thought they would rather do this than practice.”

The Aggies did shoot better than 50 percent in the game for the first time in the last three contests, making 27-of-50 field goals (54 percent). Plus, they ran their streak of holding opponents to less than 60 points to four games and outrebounded the Jackrabbits 37-27.

“We need to get some things worked out,” Harris said. “We didn’t play our best basketball tonight. It was really reckless, lot of turnovers, sloppy basketball.”

Despite allowing SDSU to get within single digits at halftime, Carroll drilled one of his four 3-pointers on the night, and Pak hit back-to-back treys during a 13-2 run to give the Aggies a 49-28 cushion with 14:17 left to play.

Chaz Spicer gave USU its biggest lead of the game, 56-34, with a rebound bucket at the midway point of the second half.

But a 13-2 run by the Jackrabbits made it interesting for a few minutes.

“South Dakota just kept plugging along, ... they came to play,” Morrill said. “... When I get home tonight and have some time to reflect, I probably won’t be as critical.”

In the end, the Aggies were too much for the Jackrabbits, notching their fifth straight win and 10th victory in their last 11 games. They have also won 13 straight at home, which is the longest such streak in the WAC.

Game notes: Harris moved past Max Perry (1,236) and Jim Boatwright (1,238) and into 19th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,239 points. ... Pak had at least five assists for the 10th time this year. ... Carroll tied his career-high with four steals. ... USU had a season-high eight blocks on the night, the most since swatting nine against Fort Lewis in November of 2003. Matheus led the block attack with three. ... This was not the first meeting between these schools, as the Aggies hold a 3-0 lead in the all-time series now. ... USU has an RPI of 51, a Sagarin rating of 63 and strength of schedule of 154. The WAC is ranked as the 10th-best conference in the country.

[jack100]

Re: Utah State

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_3446864


Unimpressively, Ags earn eventual rout
By Martin Renzhofer
The Salt Lake Tribune

LOGAN - A disquieted Stew Morrill played the role of philosopher following his team's men's basketball victory over South Dakota State.
"I want everything to be perfect," the Utah State coach said. "It's an imperfect game."
The Smith Spectrum crowd of 8,896 was poised to go bananas Friday night. It expected Utah State to make hare stew out of the Jackrabbits. After all, South Dakota State was coming off an 17-point loss at Idaho State.
But an outclassed South Dakota State refused to play the victim. The Aggies won, 72-51, but the margin would have been 40 had they played with the same intensity and effort as their opponent.
Then again, it would have been difficult for Utah State (14-4), coming off of a hard-fought win at Nevada, to match the fever pitch required for the grind of Western Athletic Conference basketball.
Utah State must now prepare for Hawaii, which visits Logan for an ESPN "Big Monday" matchup.
"We were real sluggish," Morrill said. "We did what we needed to do and there's no question it's hard in the middle of conference to play a game such as this. But I thought they'd rather do this than practice. Wouldn't you?
"We'd better be better than that" against Hawaii.
Jaycee Carroll, still struggling with his shot, led the way with a game-high 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting.
Nate Harris (15), David Pak (14) and Cass Matheus (10) also reached double figures as the Aggies shot 54 percent.
SDSU was outrebounded by 10 and was limited to 33 percent shooting.
The Jackrabbits' leading scorer, Matt Cadwell, was 1-for-10. But the Aggies also committed 15 turnovers and had the ball swiped six times.
"It's easy to get into a bad mind-set," Harris said. "And we did and it showed."
Utah State opened with a 13-1 run, as it took nearly five minutes for South Dakota State to score its first basket. But the Aggies finished the half with a six-minute drought of their own.
Again, USU opened the second half strong and opened a 54-31 lead on a Chaz Spicer basket. However, the pattern of the first half followed in the second as the Jackrabbits (5-14) closed to 59-47.
"The difference between tonight and two nights ago at Idaho State is that our kids competed," South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy said. "[Utah State] is a way better basketball team [than Idaho State], but our kids competed."
Utah State now has two days of practice to regain their anger.
"I know the coaches will get us fired up," Carroll said. "We're happy with the win, but we're dissatisfied."


Utah St. 72, S. Dakota St. 51

FG FT Reb
SDSU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Gilbert 38 5-12 0-0 0-5 2 4 12
Beran 19 3-4 1-1 0-0 0 4 8
Berte 40 5-12 1-2 5-11 2 2 11
Heien 22 2-5 1-2 0-2 1 0 6
Cadwell 34 1-10 3-6 2-2 3 1 6
Casey 13 0-1 0-1 0-1 2 0 0
Frias 10 0-2 2-2 1-1 2 1 2
Keller 1 0-1 0-0 30-0 0 0 0
Kleinjan 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 6
Loney 12 0-4 0-0 1-2 0 5 0
Totals 200 18-54 8-14 11-27 51 27 51
Percentages: FG .333, FT .571. Three-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Gilbert 2-5, Beran 1-2, Heien 1-3, Cadwell 1-5, Kleinjan 2-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Team

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Turnovers: 0. Blocked Shots: 3. Turnovers: 16 (Gilbert 3, Beran 4, Heien 2, Cadwell 3, Frias 2, Keller, Kleinjan ). Steals: 6 (Gilbert 2, Berte, Heien, Cadwell 2). Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb
USU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Harris 31 6-8 3-4 1-3 2 1 15
Session 15 1-1 0-1 0-3 1 1 2
Matheus 27 5-9 0-0 1-6 0 4 10
Pak 27 3-7 5-6 0-3 7 3 14
Carroll 31 6-13 1-5 0-3 2 4 18
Huber 19 1-3 0-0 0-2 4 0 3
Peterson 21 0-3 0-0 0-2 2 3 0
Hammer 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Spicer 16 3-6 3-5 2-5 0 0 9
Bendall 7 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 1 1
Totals 200 27-50 9-14 9-37 18 37 72
Percentages: FG .540, FT .643. Three-Point Goals: 9-19, .474 (Pak 4-5, Carroll 4-8, Huber 1-3). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 0. Blocked Shots: 8. Turnovers: 15 (Haris 2, Session, Matheus 2, Pak 2, Carroll, Huber 2, Peterson 2, Hammer, Spicer, Bendall). Steals: 8 (Matheus, Pak, Carroll 4, Huber, Spicer 2. Technical Fouls: None.
S. Dakota St. 24 27-51
USU 33 39-72
A -8,896. Officials: Jim Stupin, Duane Allen, Wilson Holland.