Aggie bench thrown into the fire against Denver

Preston Medlin and Kyisean Reed are injured. Both could possibly be out for a while too, but we're waiting on more details.

So going into Saturday's game against Denver, Jarred Shaw was the lone guy still starting from the Aggies' opening game lineup. Tenale Roland got demoted, Danny Berger is still recovering from dying, and now Medlin and Reed are banged up. The bench that has struggled so badly for USU the past two weeks would all be seeing major minutes and depended on for production, which is something we've badly needed at times and haven't gotten from them. Then factor in that Denver is a team everyone knew would be contending for the WAC title, and this game had "We're f***ed" written all over it.

The optimist deep down in me thought, "Let's see how these guys respond, and maybe this experience will pay off down the road."

After seeing that game, I actually feel like these guys may have learned a quality lesson in stepping up to the challenge.

As for the actual game, it started sloppy. And from there it got ugly. But instead of quitting and going home with the blowout they might have expected, the team kept fighting, enough so that they made this game interesting. Were it not for Denver shooting lights-out from 3-point range and a turnover margin that could only be describe as "clown shoes", the Aggies very well could have pulled this one out.

If nothing else, the team looked like they really had a sense of pride about that game, or at least that second half. Sense of urgency hasn't seemed to be high on this team's list throughout this season, so to see some intensity in that second half was encouraging.

Yes, a loss is a loss. But some of these guys showed us a little bit more than they have this year outside of Saturday's game. If the remainder of this team that isn't injured can step their game up, if/when Reed and Medlin come back, they could finally have a really good thing going.

NOTES

• Ben Clifford looked like the 2011-12 version of himself against Denver. He was hustling, scoring in the post and limiting turnovers. We need more of that, and if he can become the sneaky 3-point threat he was last year too, that's gravy.
• Marvin Jean finally got over the eight-point mark, going off for a team-high 14 points on Saturday. He hit on 4-6 from deep, pulled down four rebounds and dished two assists.
• Aggies won the rebounding battle 25-16... That's the kind of rebound total that tells you it was two teams who like to milk the shot clock.
• Despite the turnovers, two of which seemed to be phantom offensive foul calls, Matt Lopez looked like he belonged once again.
• Jarred Shaw had him an alright game as well, even if he looked plenty uninspired at times. Would have hoped that with his height, he would have smelled the blood in the water and fully dominated the paint, but 10 points and nine boards is still ample.
• It looks like a shooting slump has officially fallen over Marcel Davis.
• Quite, quality games from both Spencer Butterfield and Tenale Roland. Nine points for each of them with a little contributions in rebounding and assists too.
• Defensively, the team was very good in spurts, and very god-awful in others. The crushing blow of those good spurts was that Denver buried some off-balance, desperation 3-pointers that have got to cut a team deep.
• All in all, not an all-around terrible showing. Not great either. Plenty left to be desired, but this team can hopefully start recognizing some of the talent we've suspected they've been storing deep down there.