Oregon's dominant second half ends Utah State's season in first round of NIT

LOGAN — Oregon's Eric Williams Jr. went up for a two handed dunk and deflated a raucous Utah State crowd inside the Spectrum Tuesday night to give the Ducks a 13-point second-half lead. Was it a failure to block out or a product of an Aggies side getting overmatched?

Was Utah State basketball responsible for an epic second-half collapse? Or were they just victims of an unstoppable Oregon force?

Either way, Utah State's season is over.

Clinging onto a 4-point halftime lead, the Aggies were outscored 50-34 in the second half in the NIT first-round matchup against the Ducks. In the final 20 minutes, Utah State gave up 8 second-chance points, 12 points off turnovers, and were outscored in the paint 28-14. It all led to the Aggies losing the home game 83-72.

It could be argued that it's a less painful way to go out than previous losses this season; there were no questionable charge call, buzzer-beater layups, or a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer to pin the loss on in the end.

It wasn't a game where Utah State surrendered a late-game lead in a gut-wrenching fashion. In fact, the most exciting moment of the final five minutes was when a paper airplane made its way onto the court. Utah State ends the season knowing they simply got beat, plain and simple.

But if it is the final game for senior Justin Bean, who still has an extra year of eligibility, it certainly was no fairy tale ending.

The Ducks didn't travel their best player, Will Richardson, to the Spectrum Tuesday, but you wouldn't know it for stretches of the second half during the first round of the NIT. Abandoning what Ryan Odom described as a "Creighton offense" they showed in the first half, Oregon came out of the halftime break and played more aggressive, free and attacked the rim.

Guard Jacob Young was quicker than every player on the court, darting past various Aggies defenders to finish at the rim with impressive touch. He scored 17 points in the win.

The Utah State frontcourt struggled to contain center Franck Kepnang, who finished with 9 points and nine rebounds, and had a game-high 29 points in plus-minus; and De'Vion Harmon hit step-back 3-pointers, banked in shots off the glass, and scored a team-high 19 points.

There's no question the Aggies didn't help themselves out. For the game, Utah State shot 61.9% from the free-throw line and 38.5% from the field. They were 43.8% from 3-point range in the first half, but just 16% in the second half.

The game plan from Dana Altman and the Duck's was clear early — deny Brandon Horvath and Bean inside and make the Aggies earn it from the outside.

The plan didn't account for Steven Ashworth.

The sophomore guard came off the bench and proceeded to hit four 3-pointers in less than four minutes. A Jimmer Fredette-like pull-up from well beyond the line gave the Aggies a 16-13 lead and sent 7,023 fans into a frenzy.

Ashworth seemed to give the rest of the Aggies confidence, too. Max Shulga, Horvath and Zee Hamoda all hit 3-pointers, and the offensive surge gave the home team a 9-point lead with 4:43 left in the first half.

"Steven, obviously, began to take some shots for our team to give us that life that he's been giving us all year off the bench," Odom said. "And that settled some of the other guys down, too. When he does that, that really helps, and the others feed off that."

But for the final 24 minutes of the game, it was the Ducks doing the feeding.

Harmon, who had 16 first-half points, had 9 straight points to narrow Utah State's lead down to four at the break. To open the second half, Oregon went on a 10-2 run to take an 8-point lead.

This time there was no shooting tirade from Ashworth to counter their attack. Oregon collapsed less inside and guarded the perimeter much tighter, and the Aggies bigs struggled to capitalize. Bean finished the game with 9 points on just 2-of-12 shooting and Horvath had 15 points on 7-of-16 shooting.

"We weren't tight enough against them," Odom said. "You're running a big risk of not being able to stop it again. That's really what happened. They got really confident. They got really aggressive going to the basket. Young was magnificent in the second half. Harmon was the key to the first half for them. The others just filled in quite nicely."

With the Aggies trailing by eight at the midway point in the second half, and Young finding a way to break through the Aggies defense, Utah State needed an answer in a moment that felt critical to stem the run. Ashworth put up a 3-point shot that rimmed out, but a hustle play from Shulga on a rebound forced a jump ball to give the Aggies the ball back.

But Hamada missed an open jumper and a tip-in from Bean didn't go in to end the critical possession. On the other end, Williams hit a 3-pointer and blew the game wide open.

"You try to make a little run and they come back with a big momentum play or a dunk or an easy layup. It's hard to overcome those," Bean said. "In the second half, we just didn't quite get over the hump and they ran away with it."

Utah State ends the season with an 18-16 record and are now 2-10 in NIT games — the Aggies haven't won an NIT game since 1960.

At the end of the game, senior Brock Miller subbed in and hit a mid-range shot to likely end his college career with a made basket. He, Bean and Horvath all got an honorable send-off and were subbed out with seconds left in the game to a standing ovation.

Senior RJ Etyle-Rock, who still has a year of eligibility, was not part of the impromptu send-off; there's a chance he returns next season. Bean insists he has not made a decision on whether or not to return next season.

"There's a lot of important conversations I've got to have in the next coming weeks and months," Bean said.

At 25 years old, most expect him to move on and try his hand in professional basketball. But people in the program insist it isn't just lip-service; he hasn't made up his mind.

It was, however, an emotional post-game interview for Bean.

"I came here as a walk-on, and you don't see many places that take guys like me in and support you and love you," he said while tearing up. "I have no words to say just how much I appreciate Aggie nation."

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