Well how about that boys and girls?
On Tuesday, January 28th, the Aggies hosted the Wyoming Cowboys. Prior to entering the Spectrum Tuesday night the Cowboys were the sole leaders of the Mountain West.
Just in case you are not aware, the Aggies beat the "Pokes" 56 to 44. How did we do this? Let me enlighten you to a few ideas.
Now before anybody calls me out, I was not physically in the Spectrum Tuesday night. I was on the other side of town working so that I can survive. That being said, I have watched the replay of this game so I at least have an idea of what I am talking about.
Here's why we won:
FIRST, we freaking played as a team!!!! I have been talking about this for almost a year. Remember when we lost most of the team last year? I know it hurts to think about but bear with me here. Stew Morrill put together an extremely young and relatively inexperienced basketball team. To paraphrase Stew, he had this to say about this team: "I have coached a lot of teams and I have like most of them. I really like this team."
Ever since then I have been telling anybody that would listen that all we have to do is play as a team. We had to learn to mesh as a team. One guy alone is not going to carry this team to victory. Look at the stats guys! WE PLAYED TOGETHER! Do you believe me yet?
SECOND, we rebounded! Chris Smith put it best last night, "We were tired of being yelled at so we rebounded." Here's the stat from last night. Wyoming rebounds: 28. USU rebounds: 32. It's amazing what happens when we control the ball! Something tells me that the team did not get yelled at after that upset.
THIRD, we played incredible defense. The Aggies held Wyoming's top players Grabau and Nance to 16 and 14 points respectively. Nobody else on that team came close to helping the scoreboard out.
FOURTH, the Aggies were more well-rounded. David Collette and Chris Smith led the team in scoring with 16 and 13 points respectively. Well done guys! But wait, Jalen Moore had 7, Darius Perkins had 6, Julion Pearre had 3, JoJo McGlaston had 5, Henry Bolton had 2, Sean Harris had 2, and Elston Jones had 2. Do you see what is going on here?! EVERYBODY MADE A BUCKET!!!!!!!!!! Two people on Wyoming didn't get a single point. The MW Connection saw this coming. Here's what they had to say:
On the other side of the floor, Utah State guard Jalen Moore is fifth in the conference in points scored and fourth in rebounds so far this year. He averages nearly 16 points and over seven rebounds per game. Moore, along with David Collette (13 points) and Chris Smith (11 points), gives the Aggies a balanced scoring attack that could give the Pokes' defense fits.
http://www.mwcconnection.com/mountain-west-basketball/2015/1/27/7920185/wyoming-utah-state-basketball-preview
Guys, you called it. Well done.
FIFTH, I have to credit the Hurd. You guys were awesome. According to my sources at the game (Thanks to Brian and Nick) the place was insane. At one point, the ref had to blow his whistle for about 15 seconds before anybody could hear it. That has got to be a new noise level record for that building. On top of that, you were in Wyoming's heads. Nance airballed twice in the first half and you tore him apart. I applaud you all and tip my hat to you.
The "hopefully-soon-to-be-coveted Scotsman Award goes to David Collette. This was a hard one. I was torn between Collette dunking and taunting the Wyoming bench and JoJo McGlaston's revenge block. Here's why I went with David Collette: If you watch the video, Collette jumps out in front of the Wyoming player, steals the ball, runs down the court and dunks it. The crowd goes wild and Wyoming can't believe what just happened. But wait! It gets better. David Collette turns around and stares down the Wyoming bench as if to say, "That's right. I'm better than you." Hey Wyoming! Guess what. David Collette IS better than you.
To wrap this up, I just have one thing to say. The Utah State University Men's Basketball team just showed all of us the Scotsman. Let's do it again on Saturday in San Diego and again when Boise comes to town on Tuesday.
Show me a Scotsman who doesn't love the thistle.
Show me an Englishman who doesn't love the rose.
Show me a true blooded Aggie from Utah who doesn't love the spot where the sagebrush grows.
