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.

Wilkinson, the only senior on the team, is the only starter leaving. Four others, including second-team All-WAC selections Quayle and Wesley, will be back and figure to play even bigger roles with the team. Starters Pooh Williams, Tyler Newbold, and key reserves Matt Formisano, Stavon Williams and Jaxon Myaer will be back as well. Brady Jardine will be more seasoned and ready to contribute after being forced into unexpected action midway through his redshirt season because of an injury to Modou Niang, who also will be back and ready to play after a medical redshirt season.

The experience of this season — which included a sweep of the WAC regular-season and tournament titles, a school-record number of wins and a pair of trips into the Top 25 polls — will undoubtedly benefit the Aggies.

But Morrill knows getting back to the NCAA Tournament will be anything but easy — especially in a conference that is not included among the country's traditional college basketball powers.

"The last thing I want to do is act like we're automatically going to be back in the NCAA Tournament. That's crazy. That's absurd," he said.

"We'll start up again in October and see what we can do. But certainly postseason experience is positive, and we have had a number of years where we have went back to back.

"And, gosh, that will be our goal."

E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com