Aggies 'dejected, heartbroken' with loss in Morrill's home regular-season finale


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LOGAN — Chris Smith looked like a man on a mission Saturday night in the regular-season finale for Utah State’s men’s basketball team.

And he had reason to be in Stew Morrill’s final regular-season game at the Spectrum of his career.

“I just tried to send him off on a good night,” said Smith, who scored the Aggies’ first nine points and finished with a team-high 24. “I wanted to do the best we could.”

Utah State led by as much as nine points in the final game before the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas, but couldn’t hold off a late rally by a five-loss Rams squad in a 75-70 loss at the Spectrum.

It was a tough way to end the Morrill era of regular-season basketball in Logan, but not one for want of trying, the 17-year Aggie head coach said.

“We were in position to win the game, but we just played unintelligent basketball,” Morrill said. “That was the difference. They are experienced, they’re a good team, and they capitalized on us not playing very smart.”

J.J. Avila didn’t help the Aggies’ hopes, netting a game-high 29 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and five steals in a showcase effort for Colorado State (26-5, 13-5 MWC).

But the emotional night ended with a damper for Utah State (18-12, 11-7 MWC), which finishes conference play tied for fourth place and will face Wyoming (22-9, 11-7 MWC) in the 4-vs-5 quarterfinal Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.


They're good kids. I've said that all year long; they're really good kids. This has been a fun team. They've gotten better. They finished a lot better than anybody thought they could. We were really bad early, but we made progress, and for the most part they played hard and tried to improve. I couldn't have asked for a better group to finish my career. I appreciate them and having those feelings.

–Utah State head coach Stew Morrill


The Aggies finished the game with four players in double-digits. David Collette had 10 points and four rebounds before fouling out with 2:25 left in the contest, and Jalen Moore added 14 points and nine rebounds for Utah State. JoJo McGlaston supplied 14 points and five rebounds off the bench as the team used a 12-0 run in the first half to jump to a 21-14 lead with 5:42 left until the break.

“They’re good kids. I’ve said that all year long; they’re really good kids,” Morrill said of his squad. “This has been a fun team. They’ve gotten better. They finished a lot better than anybody thought they could.

“We were really bad early, but we made progress, and for the most part they played hard and tried to improve. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to finish my career. I appreciate them and having those feelings.”

The Aggies also finished the regular season in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,270 on an emotional evening that also featured a halftime ceremony honoring All-American post Wayne Estes, who was killed in a tragic accident 50 years ago.

“It was great,” McGlaston said of the raucous crowd that included the return of a fan dressed like a peacock. “This is Aggie basketball, what I came here for — it was this environment. Even though we lost, it was a fun way to end it.”

The season isn’t over yet, and Smith said his squad is ready to get back to work to try to make a run in the postseason.

“We’ll just start practicing and preparing for anybody we might face,” he added. “That’s all we can do.”

Their head coach for at least one more game, Morrill is confident in the team’s bounce-back from back-to-back losses to end the regular season, including a 73-56 thumping at Wyoming on March 4.

“Right now, we’re dejected, disappointed and heartbroken,” Morrill said. “But college kids are pretty resilient. They bounce back pretty quick. I’ll be surprised if they aren’t ready to go by Thursday when we play. I expect them to be ready.”

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