Well I guess this is growing up...

First off... DAMMIT!!!

Second, let's get to the stat of the night...

In the last four minutes of both halves of basketball today (so, eight minutes of basketball), Utah State scored a combined THREE POINTS. Those three points all came in the last four minutes of the second half.

Also in the last four minutes of each half, a combined SEVEN turnovers. They also didn't make a basket in those final chunks of the half, shooting 0-6 from the field. The last field goal attempt by USU came with 2:39 remaining when Preston Medlin was basically tackled by Hernst Laroche, only to get no call. *EDIT*: The angle of my view in the stadium made this look much worse than it actually showed to be on video. Credit to Laroche for sticking with the play.

Speaking of calls, "horse shit" is about the only way to explain the officiating in this game. It was never consistent, there were phantom calls everywhere and god-awful no-calls in crucial situations. The way USU finished each half was the real difference in the game, but the officiating was horrible.

Sadly, as soon as you see Verne Harris walk into The Spectrum, you know it's an uphill battle. The guy is awful at his job, hates Utah State and has a wicked case of small man syndrome. He's the same guy responsible for the Tai Wesley "intentional elbow" call at BYU last year, for those who don't remember. Reports from Section F tonight (because I've got plenty of sources there) are that after one no-call on a traveling by NMSU, during the next media timeout, Harris said to fans, "I don't give a shit about traveling." He also apparently came clean on blowing a few calls throughout the game to the fans behind the basket at the end of the game. That explains plenty if you ask me. Pretty sure he's stoked as hell right about now that he got to ref a USU loss in The Spectrum.

Still, USU has got to execute better to close out halves. It's really too bad because in all the numbers except rebounding, they played a pretty solid game. NMSU is huge, athletic, strong and experienced, but USU hung with them all game, and even went up big in the first half for a bit before shutting down.

NMSU's defensive pressure gave the Aggies fits, and made a huge difference in those late-half shutdowns. The red Aggies pressured USU's guards all the way to mid-court and it really threw the offense out of rhythm. It might have been nice to see a USU big man come and set a high screen for Brockeith Pane once or twice to let Pane drive to the hoop and have some chances to finish around the basket or to draw fouls.

At the end of the day, NMSU came with fire and a purpose. That carried them today. USU got plenty to learn from today, particularly in facing the kind of defensive pressure that NMSU put on them. If they don't learn from this, then this loss becomes that much more brutal to deal with.


NOTES

• How in the hell did Jordan Stone not play at all in the second half?!?! I though the first half of tonight might have been the best basketball he's played all year. He was a strong defensive presence down low and just looked in sync with everything. After Stone went out in the first half, NMSU scored nine unanswered points to finish the half.
• My love-fest for Ben Clifford continues. He shot perfect from the field, scored six points and grabbed three boards to go with a steal and block in only 12 minutes.That block came in the closing seconds, when the game was already over, but he wasn't going to let NMSU get any easy bucket to extend that lead. He played intense until the buzzer. So excited about this kid's future!
• Preston Medlin had guys four inches taller than him guarding him all night and still scored 16 points. He is the one who will bring balance to the Aggies.