Utah State escapes with win over pesky Utah Tech

Steven Ashworth. Photo by Clint Allen

LOGAN – Utah State was favored by nearly 20 points in its Thursday matchup with Utah Tech, yet the visitors led as late as 11:45 in the second half in the Aggies’ eventual 86-81 win over the Trailblazers in the Spectrum.

USU came off an eight-day break from basketball with this game. Prior to that break the Aggies were red-hot from three and went 5-0 with multiple blowout wins over solid teams. But early in the game Utah State wasn’t making some of the shots it normally makes. That plus some defensive struggles allowed Utah Tech to hang with the on-paper better Aggies.

“(Utah Tech) ran their sets well and they have some big physical bigs down low which makes the guards help in a little bit which then opens the perimeter for threes,” USU guard Steven Ashworth said. “And they hit some threes. We talk a lot about making people miss and I just don’t think we did that tonight. We didn’t force them to miss shots. They were open and in their rhythm.”

Another huge factor was the loss of starting point guard Rylan Jones. Four minutes into the game Jones was inadvertently struck in the face on a loose ball. The senior guard was treated while lying on the floor for several minutes before being helped up and off the court. After the game, USU head coach Ryan Odom said he hadn’t yet heard the extent of the injury, only being able to say what he’d seen, which was that Jones sustained a significant cut just above his lip.

Jones’ exit pressed backup guard Ashworth into early and extended service. Ashworth is no stranger to big minutes – he’s averaged 28.4 per game despite his bench role and is the team’s leading scorer to boot – but he wasn’t likely to get rest with Jones unable to return to the game (Ashworth did eventually sit in the second half, but that was due to foul trouble). And for the team in general, it took away one of the biggest leaders and a consistent presence on the court.

“It’s difficult when something like that happens really early in the game. Not only for our momentum but just our psyche,” Ashworth said.

Cameron Gooden led the Trailblazers’ valiant effort. He scored 20 points in the first half, going 6-for-7 from the field in the opening 20 minutes including a perfect 3-for-3 from deep. The Aggies actually fouled Gooden on a last-second heave at the end of the half, giving him three free throws that tied the game up 36-36 going into the break.

“Credit to him, he’s a shifty guard. He was able to get around us,” Odom sid. “We were getting screened, that’s where the physicality came, and our guards were trailing too much.”

Utah Tech had its hero on the night but Utah State had one (or rather two) as well – Steven Ashworth and Taylor Funk. The two combined for 47 points (27 for Ashworth, 20 for Funk) including 12 of the Aggies’ 13 made 3-pointers. Whenever a big shot was needed, it was (almost) always one of those two.

Funk and Ashworth were one of the factors that allowed USU to eventually pull ahead and stay there for good. The other was playing more sound defense than it had in the first, especially on Gooden. Though he had 20 in the first half, it took until 6:09 in the second for him to score another point. The Aggies threw just about every look they could at Gooden to slow him down and it mostly worked out as he finished with just 29 points after the hot start.

“It came down to being a little bit more physical. Just having a little bit more grit in our defensive strategy and just taking a little more pride on defense,” Ashworth said. “He’s a very talented player as we saw. Hit a lot of tough shots and at the same time got in his rhythm. I think in the second half we were a little bit better at making sure we fought over the ball screen or got to different options so he wasn’t able to get his first, best look.”

Utah State had numerous chances to pull away in the second half and put Utah Tech in a stranglehold, but the Trailblazers refused to go away. The Aggies went on a 9-0 run early in the second half only for Utah Tech to respond and take the lead again. USU went up by 10 with 6:43 to play only for the lead to be cut back to five just 50 seconds later. The Aggies went up by nine again only to have that lead cut back to just five points yet again. Even at the death of the game when USU was up 86-78, the Trailblazers wouldn’t let the near-double digit lead stand and they hit a buzzer-beating three to cut the final margin to just five.

The refusal to go away was a testament to the difficulty of winning games, something Odom stressed after the game.

“There’s a chance you can lose when you step across that line,” Odom said. “Our guys understand that it is hard to win. I always say it is really, really really, really, really hard. There’s moments where you’ve got to answer. Utah Tech, to their credit tonight, they were down to play.”

Along with Ashworth and Funk’s big games, the Aggies also got solid performances from Max Shulga and Dan Akin. Shulga recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 assists while Akin scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting with five rebounds. Funk, in addition to his 20 points, had eight rebounds and seven assists.

Akin was particularly big down the stretch as nine of his 15 points came in the final eight minutes of the game. As Utah Tech pursued perimeter shooters like Funk, Ashworth and others around it left Akin open for big dunks and layups underneath.

Dan is huge for us. Just the way he moves down low. He just seems to always be open, sometimes in unconventional ways,” Ashworth said. “We found him and by finding him it allowed the weakside defenders to sink in on him which opened up some corner threes.”

At 6-0 now on the season, Utah State is now close to matching the 2019-20 Aggies who started their season 7-0. This year’s squad will need to down a tough San Francisco team in a semi-away game at Chase Center – where the Golden State Warrios play – on Sunday. The Dons are 7-1 this year and are the highest ranked team on USU’s schedule so far based on the KenPom rankings. That matchup will tip off at 6:30 p.m.

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