If any Aggie fans told themselves at any point recently that it couldn't possibly get worse, the universe just delivered them a hearty bitch slap.
From the start, USU wasn't in this game. The eternal optimist in me hoped that maybe they could climb out of a massive hole much like they did back in a 2007 game against Oral Roberts to pull off a hard-earned win against the odds.
Turns out this was a lot more like 2007's trip to none other than Louisiana Tech.
The Bulldogs simply could not miss on Thursday night. And when you play defense as well as this year's La Tech team does, opposing teams just aren't going to win when shots are falling like that. La Tech only finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field, but that's due largely to them shooting 2-11 in the last nine and a half minutes of the contest.
It just wasn't meant to be tonight for USU, but that's not the worst part of it...
SPENCER BUTTERFIELD
Remember at the start of this year when we were all stoked about the depth we had on the wings? That sure came crashing down in about the worst way possible.
Seeing Butterfield down, unable to move, needing to be carried off the court, agonizing in pain on the bench, all topped off with the knowledge of how tough as f***ing nails that kid is, it pretty much stung the soul.
While I was en route to eat away my feelings, Stew apparently said in the post game show that he'd be surprised if Butterfield played again this year. In other words, all hope of a WAC Tournament upset is pretty much toast.
I wish I could be more optimistic about his chances of returning, and I'll admit that I have limited knowledge on this whole chronic hip thing of his, but it looked pretty damn awful.
As if there was still any chance left of another season being crippled by injuries worse than this one, any chance is gone forever. This will forever be the season of injuries for Utah State basketball.
NOTES
- Aggies weren't far behind the Bulldogs in points in the paint (26-to-30), second chance points (12-to-13), or fast break points (2-to-4)... La Tech CRUSHED USU in points of turnovers (25-to-9) and bench points (49-to-15).
- Tenale Roland looked alright once again. And seeing as how his role just increased quite a bit, that's a little bit encouraging.
- Ben Clifford and Jarred Shaw had 14 points each. Clifford had seven offensive rebounds, which is pretty impressive, pretty sure two of those came from being right there to catch a teammate's airball shot though.
- Four assists for the team tonight... FOUR!!! Regardless of the opposing defense, that is unacceptable. 15 turnovers isn't good either, but the lack of assists can't happen like that.
- Can we just never talk about this night ever again now?
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