An ugly win is still a win... 56-48, Aggies

Nobody said winning had to be pretty, and Saturday night in The Spectrum sure as well was an ugly one! I want to tell myself that this game was just the slumpbreaker that USU needed to get its game back on track after a rough go last season. Just like I want to believe that winning a few postseason games last year, even if it was in the lowly CIT, was beneficial just to shake that monkey off our backs.

And since the team stands at 1-0, ugly as that one might have been, I'll stick with the slumpbreaker theory and hold on to the hope that things only get prettier from here.

For the bulk of Saturday's game, the Utah State offense was out of sync. And while that's nothing out of the ordinary for a team early in the season, it kind of seemed to be even more out of sync than we'd normally see to start things off.

Defensively though, USU managed to make up for just enough of the offensive woes to keep Idaho State out of it for the bulk of the game. The Bengals only hit on 39.6 percent of their shot attempts from the field, and just 27.3 percent from the 3-point line. The Aggies also outrebounded ISU 36-23, had seven steals and three blocks.

So when the Bengals had only scored 37 points with just under 10 minutes remaining in the second half, that'll usually be a solid enough defensive game for the Aggies to hold on and win... Except that the offense was only at 37 at that same point. USU scored just seven points through the first 10 minutes of the second half, which is as bad of an offensive cold streak as I can remember seeing here.

But as sloppy and as bad as the game was up until that point, there never seemed to be doubt in anyone's mind until ISU hit the 3-pointer to tie it at 37. The team was playing sloppy, the crowd was uninvolved and all that doubt and wonder about last year's struggles seemed to creep back into people's minds.

And then along came Spencer Butterfield...

Right after ISU tied it, Butterfield broke that tie with a 3-pointer of his own that kickstarted a 15-3 run for USU to finally take control of the game. Butterfield had nine points in that run, all coming from behind the 3-point line. Jarred Shaw also had four points, three rebounds, a steal and an assist in that run.

That more or less put the game away for USU, but there was still kind of that "we haven't really earned" this kind of feeling when doing the Winning Team/Losing Team. Still, a win is a win, and if you can escape from a sloppy game with a win and plenty to learn from, that's not too shabby!

Anything that sloppy on Thursday though, and things could get really ugly. I don't doubt for a second though that this team has the ability to take a big step forward.

NOT MUCH HELP FROM THE CROWD EITHER...

Hopefully it was just frustration from watching a frustrating game, but The Spectrum crowd just was never into this game, and for a season opener, that was a little disappointing. It got a tiny bit loud at a couple points, but never anywhere near SPECTRUM loud. I wish I could just attribute this to me being a total super senior and thinking things aren't like the old days, but it really was just tame. And in a close game no less.

It also seems like Section F is the new Section K. Or in other words, almost nobody on the front row seems at all involved in the game. No yelling on defense, not much cheering for USU baskets, and above all else, just no liveliness. The only time things get rowdy seemed to be flipping shit on the officials for a call.

Memo to a lot of people out there: USU's players commit fouls or turnovers too. Freaking out at officials and screaming their ears out when they get a call correct that goes against the Aggies is only going to make them hate us more. And since they all do games here with regularity, it might be nice to have them on our side a bit. Learn to recognize when USU players have actually done wrong and treat the officials accordingly. You'd be amazed what happens when you just treat them like humans and be reasonable with them.

Probably more on this another day though. Hopefully Saturday was just a fluke and bounces back strong, because the crowd needs to be hostile and loud as all f***ing HELL on Thursday for Saint Mary's. Front row of Section F needs to be the leaders of that, not just a bunch of guys standing there.

NOTES

• There were too many times when the team needed a basket to get something going and somebody not named Preston Medlin took the shot. Pre-Med hit on 5-of-7 shots Saturday, leaving one to wonder how he only managed to get off seven shots.
   
• Jarred Shaw didn't get much as far as points until late in the game, but his rebounding was huge! He also showed more savvy and creativity with his moves down low than we had seen from him up to this point. Pretty surprising that he only played 23 minutes though...
   
• Jordan Stone was pretty impressive too. He has clearly come a LONG way with his game since last year and is looking like he's going to make some real impact in games this year.
   
• For whatever reason, it seemed like nobody was interested in hitting a teammate in the corner for wide open 3-point attempt for the bulk of that game. Butterfield finally got a few of them and it ended up as the difference in the game. Wondering if that'll be a big topic of discussion in reviewing the film.
   
• Turnovers... Less of those please. Also too many times where two teammates were fighting over rebounds and lost them out of bounds or back to ISU.

Player of the Game: Spencer Butterfield

With the game tied and less than 10 minutes to go, Butterfield stepped up and made the big shots USU needed. For the game he had nine points, four rebounds and two steals. All nine of those points came in the final 10 minutes too. In a game where nobody really loaded up the box score, Butterfield scored points at the right times and was the biggest difference maker to open the season.