Utah State basketball: Despite loss, Aggies optimistic about next year

Utah State might have lost by just one point in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to a Top 25 team from the Big East.

But the loss isn't much different than a 20-point blowout in many regards — the Aggies are home in Logan today instead of getting ready to play Missouri in the second round.

Still, the one-point setback to Marquette leaves many wondering what might have happened if USU made one more basket or had one more defensive stop.

"I know for myself I look at things that I could have done differently," said USU senior Gary Wilkinson, who played his final game as an Aggie and scored 15 points. "I don't know if any of us hang it all upon ourselves and say 'Oh, it's my fault this happened' or this or that, and I hope none of us do. But there's obviously things that you think back on and if I would have made this play or would have been able to get to that ball or boxed out better on this."

And while there may be dozens of individual plays that could have made a difference in USU's season-ending 58-57 loss to the Golden Eagles, it was probably two factors that made the biggest difference in the game.

First, Utah State suffered through a stretch of more than nine minutes with only one basket. During that time, Marquette turned a 10-7 lead into a 23-9 advantage and threatened to blow the Aggies out of the gym.

"We weren't really ready for their pressure," said sophomore Tai Wesley, who had 15 points. "They were kind of taking us out of our offense. I think our defense was real good. … We kind of just needed to find our rhythm on offense, and we did that in the second half."

Second, Marquette's quick guards earned repeated trips to the free-throw line with drives deep into the paint and eventually sent USU's Wesley and Jared Quayle to the bench with five fouls each.

"Sitting on the bench and watching the game, it was hard because I wanted to be out there," Quayle said. "I wanted to be bringing the ball up the court and having that opportunity to win the game."

The loss was only Utah State's fifth of the season and, even though it hurts, could help lead to another stellar season when the team regroups next fall.