In the case of Utah State, the Gossner's tournament was no fluke. This team has turned a corner. They've turned a corner in a way that for a while seemed almost unfathomable, but after Saturday's game, it's almost tough to remain skeptical. The Aggies went on the road to play the No. 14 team in the country - a team with three guys projected to be NBA draft picks this year - and took them to the brink.
Going into WAC play, everything seems to be clicking for Utah State. Now they look like a young team that has grown up together, found out who they are and what they're capable of and are ready to make everyone who doubted that they could make it five-in-a-row look stupid.
Early WAC schedule and your annual NMSU good player departure
The way the schedule sets up too is pretty favorable to USU right now. The Aggies get Nevada at home early in the schedule with a great chance to take an early leg-up on the Wolf Pack in the standings, then follow that up by going on the road to New Mexico State while the bad Aggies still be working on sorting out their most recent ego-genocide. NMSU just lost Christian Kabongo from their team, along with his 14.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Kabongo was also the team's best free throw shooter and one of the best at getting to the line too.
Basically, NMSU lost one of their top-two guys, a road USU fans know too well this year after losing Brady Jardine early in the year. We saw the mess that the basketball team was for a while after that injury while everyone else learned to step up and play into bigger roles, and that was with a coach like Stew Morrill showing them the way. I'd be that Marvin Menzies will be on top of helping his team grow through this about as much as he's been on top of the WAC standings in his career (ZING!).
Game notes
- One can hope that Morgan Grim and Kyisean Reed learned plenty from the MSU big men on Saturday. They haven't yet, nor will face a tougher duo of big men than what Mississippi State had to throw at them, and they still played decent. You could tell at times that they were knocked off their game a bit, but they still made their impacts at times. Grim especially had a solid game all things considered with 10 points, seven boards, three assists and only one turnover.
- Brockeith Pane keeps looking like he's found the right balance of knowing when to assert himself offensively and when to help create and dish for teammates. His five turnovers Saturday are not good, especially when they accounted for more than half of the team's total. Still, his team play as of late is a big part of what has USU clicking.
- Ben Clifford is averaging 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds over the last five games while shooting 65 percent from the field and hitting on 3-of-4 attempts from behind the 3-point line. He's giving the team 18 solid minutes a game and offers a different dynamic than what either Reed or Grim offer, giving Stew that much more versatility on his roster.
- It seems like teams have film on Danny Berger now. After four-straight games of scoring in double figures, he has combined to score just 10 points in the last three games. A big part of that is what looks to be a massive shooting slump (3-of-16 from the field, 1-of-7 from 3), but one can't help wondering if it's what is so often called "mission legs". Regardless, he's been crucial to this team's turnaround, but he's going to need to be back to form when Nevada rolls into town Saturday.
- While the biggest pat on the back over the last five games for bench guys obviously goes to Clifford, E.J. Farris isn't far behind. He's really gotten comfortable running the offense with the guys around him and has hardly turned the ball over recently. He's also shot fairly decent, so you will take five points per game from E.J. and you will be happy about it!
still don't trust pane at crunch time as evidenced by his last drive with turnover at msu game. still makes same bad decisions at crucial times.
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