Bracketbuster Saturday brings out Aggies' best

It's somewhat becoming a trend that post game write-ups from those Saturday games are going to come around much later than others. That whole "Saturday night" thing just gets in the way. You know how it goes.

But how about them Aggies, eh?

More and more these guys are looking like a strong, determined, cohesive unit. The kind the could catch some fire and shock somebody come WAC Tournament time. The weak points of this team seem to be shrinking, while the strengths are getting stronger.

And Saturday's game against Illinois State might have been the best example of it all yet this year. As has often been the case since this became an eight-man team, these guys won by playing pure Stew Morrill basketball. Good shooting, tough defense, sharing the ball, etc.

That last point of sharing the ball might be the most important one, and the Aggies did it better in this game than any other this season. It seemed like everyone on the team had at least one pretty pass to a teammate for a basket. Jarred Shaw and Jordan Stone both looked a lot more comfortable in the post than they have all year. Not a lights-out offensive performance, but they both were fearless when pressure was put on them, and in Shaw's case, he was facing a double-team all night down there. He showed the ability to handle it though, whether in the form of making a move to the basket, or passing out of it.

Hell of a game... Let's bullet point the rest.

NOTES

• USU dished 23 assists to only 12 turnovers. All seven players had at least two assists.
• When Illinois State took that comfy little lead early on, it seemed like Jarred Shaw took it personal, and his play reflected it. He basically decided that every rebound would be his for the rest of that half. Finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, nine of those boards coming in the first half.
• Eight total steals for the team. Haven't checked that stats, but I assume that's a season-high.
• While we're talking about team efforts on the stat sheet, five of the seven Aggies to see the floor got at least five rebounds.
• Spencer Butterfield was his regular awesome self. No surprises here.
• Not the best of shooting nights for Marvin Jean or Marcel Davis, but those guys killed it otherwise. They combined for 19 points, 12 assists, four steals, and eight rebounds. Davis dished eight of those assists on his own, and it just seems now that his teammates know when to expect a nice pass from him.
• Jordan Stone was pretty excellent once again as well. Six points, five rebounds, two assists... Hell yeah.
• This team still has one glaring weakness, and that's handling the press late in games. It really needs to be fixed.
• Outside of the press though, USU excelled in pretty much every area. Maybe most notably, bench points. Aggies won that one 19-5. 

Player of the Game: Tenale Roland

Some might think this one is a little bit of a reach, but Tenale Roland was better than he's ever been on Saturday. He hit a couple 3-pointers in spots where the Aggies really needed a bucket, scored 13 points total, pulled down five rebounds, and dished two assists. Roland was also the only Aggie player without a turnover. Above all else, he just looked comfortable out there, really for the first time all year. If he were to keep up that level of play throughout the rest of the year and give the team a true scoring threat off the bench, watch the hell out WAC!!!