...and it ends in a loss

Hats off to these guys for never giving up!

The opportunity was rare, but the opportunity was there. Utah State could have capped off an impressive finish to an otherwise frustrating season with a win at home Wednesday night against a Mercer team tasked with winning a long way from home in a venue where almost nobody wins. But when the final buzzer sounded, and the final prayer of a shot clanked off the rim, Utah State found itself in a place that has been far too familiar this season... Just short.

The Spectrum tonight was everything that makes that building so special. The place was buzzing before doors even opened, and anyone that just passively came to the game found themselves fully engaged in everything by the second half when USU started battling back from an early deficit.

Mercer was probably as opposite of a playing style in a team that you could possibly get for USU compared to the game against Oakland. Mercer plays in a very controlled system that shares the ball well, relies on high-percentage shots, and above all else, tough defense. All of those factors undoubtedly frustrated the Aggies early on in a big way, and moderately throughout the entire game.

Still, USU battled, ramped up its defensive pressure and knocked down a handful of big shots from deep. Danny Berger and Preston Medlin were responsible for all five second-half 3-pointers for USU, and every one of them came at a time when USU either needed a big bucket to cool a Mercer run or to widen the lead for the short time USU had it. They were a combined 5-of-11 from deep in the second half. Had they gone 6-of-11, that game would have gone at least five more minutes.

Behind some stellar defense, brilliant passing and some stellar dunks by Kyisean Reed, the Aggies rocked The Spectrum as hard as it has been rocked in three years tonight. Not since Saint Mary's came to town has the building been that rowdy and hung on every play like it did tonight.

The bad part is that the ending was frustratingly similar to Saint Mary's in that a big 3-pointer in the last minute by the opposing team and a few bogus officiating calls down the stretch made things quite the challenge for the Aggies.

There's no easy way to take it with all the thoughts of "what if" that abound. It was a fun game to be a part of, and would have made for one hell of a special moment had USU come out on top... but we didn't. Once again, we're left to wonder how different things could have been if just one or two plays had gone our way. Once again, we see our Aggies walk off the court for the last time with that hurt feeling of coming up short. Once again, it ends in a loss.


SOME THANKS THAT NEED TO BE GIVEN

Huge thanks to Morgan Grim, Brockeith Pane and Brady Jardine for everything they have done for USU basketball!

Morgan Grim came here as a walk-on and has given three years of showing up every day and doing what was asked of him. To have a starter as a walk-on is a huge luxury for the program, and he battled through a ton of adversity both to get to USU, and to make something of himself here. That speaks to character for him to have stuck out everything here like he did. (EDIT: Turns out the internet has been wrong about Grim all along. He's not a walk-on as has been thought for so long. That's a BAD internet!)

Brockeith Pane also took a crazy road in getting to USU. At USU, he was an absolute weapon on both ends of the court. He could take over a game from the point guard position like no other point guard I've seen at USU, and his defense was often times game-changing. He was an all-WAC first-team member on an Aggie team that won more games than any other and won the 2011 WAC Tournament MVP award. Hell of a career for him!

Brady Jardine... Well... What haven't I said already. His injury is the biggest "what if" of the season. A worse thing couldn't have happened to a better guy. He's everything a person should be, not just a basketball player.

If you see these guys around, tell them thanks for all the hard work they put in to make for so many great times going to Aggie games and losing our minds. It's been a blast!

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AND NOW FOR MY ANGRY RANT

1) Randy McCall and crew
You know it's going to be a difficult night in The Spectrum when Randy McCall struts in. Amazingly, he wasn't even the worst guy in the building tonight. While the whole crew deserved to wear the crown of suck, Mike Littlewood made what was, in my opinion the biggest call of the game.

With USU carrying an insane amount of momentum after going up 57-54, Mercer's Travis Smith drove down the left side and as he was going up for his shot, Danny Berger made a picture-perfect strip of the ball, which bounced off Smith's thigh out of bounds. Littlewood (who is a BYU grad by the way) was 10 feet away and behind Smith, called a foul. McCall, who was right in front of the play, called nothing, but didn't have the balls to overrule Littlewood and make the right call.

So it went from being USU up by three, with the ball and even more momentum, to Mercer shooting free throws to cut it to a one-point game. USU never regained that momentum they were robbed of there either.

And that wasn't the only bogus call on a Berger strip either. His strip near the basket on Paul Larsen 6:21 left was another huge blown call. Both resulted in Mercer getting free throw attempts they shouldn't have had and were big momentum swings. You still have to give Mercer tons of credit, because they were clearly a very good and very disciplined basketball team, but those two calls on Berger were some serious horses*** and had a major impact on the game.

2) The Aggie Pope
Sorry if this is anybody's grandpa or anything, but this guy needs to go the hell away!!! He's creepy as all hell and only shows up for random big games, all of which we seem to lose! The first time I, and maybe anyone, ever saw him was the 2010 WAC Tournament which resulted in a Tai Wesley broken nose and getting upset in the championship game.

If I remember right, Colorado State was the only football game he made it to this past season, which we lost in overtime. Now he decides once again the weather is fair enough to come on out to lay down his ultimate jinx on the Aggies tonight. He's like a guaranteed win for any opposing team.

I get that he's a paying customer and can do as he pleases and whatever, but I'm not alone in recognizing the Aggie Pope jinx. And since that act brings nothing else to the table but confusing for people, I don't see why it needs to continue.


NOTES

• Outside of Danny Berger and Kyisean Reed, nobody could get shots to fall consistently tonight. And Reed was burdened by foul trouble all night too.
   
• Everyone who played big minutes chipped in pretty well in rebounds and assists, which I think is a good sign for next year. Five different guys had 5+ rebounds and four had 2+ assists.
• Only nine turnovers in a loss... wow.
• Last thing: I'm proud of this team. They made something exciting out of an otherwise bummer season and brought Aggie fans' wildest side inside everyone to the surface tonight. It was fun, and they showed some grit. Thanks for the memories fellas!!