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LOGAN — A 6-foot-9 forward is not supposed to rebound the ball, dribble up the floor, pull up from the logo, and hit a 3-pointer.
Utah State's Taylor Funk is not your average 6-foot-9 forward, though.
Funk, the highly sought-after St. Joseph's transfer, did just that in his first game as a member of the Aggies. He drained the 3-pointer from the "E" in the U-State logo to give Utah State a 41-28 lead over Utah Valley late in the first half.
He made it clear why over a dozen high-major programs reached out to him in the transfer portal in the offseason. Funk finished with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and a game-high 14 rebounds, and the Aggies surged to a 75-58 win over Utah Valley in front of 7,430 fans at the Spectrum on Monday night.
"Could have gotten a little closer," Funk joked about his 3-pointer. "But just thought I'd make it interesting.
Sean Bairstow added a near career-high 19 points and a career-high eight rebounds; junior Max Shulga chipped in 14 points, and Rylan Jones had 6 points and seven assists in the win. The Aggies shot 49% from 3-point range and 45% from the field.
Utah Valley battled foul trouble throughout the game, and Trey Woodbury, who returned for the Wolverines after missing last year, had three first-half fouls and had 8 points on 4-of-12 shooting in 18 minutes of action. Aziz Bandaogo added 17 points, but the Wolverines shot just 33% from the field.
"That was just fun," Bairstow said. "Like, there's not really much else to say. That was so much fun. Good to get the first one out of the way with the dub, get the nerves out."
Losing its two top scores from a season ago in Justin Bean and Brandon Horvath, there's plenty of uncertainty surrounding what the Aggies identity will look like in Year 2 of the Ryan Odom era. One question was if the Aggies could close out games better than a season ago, where eight of its 16 losses were by single digits.
The Aggies led the season opener by double digits at halftime, before Utah Valley cut it to a 55-51 game with 9:43 remaining, thanks to a put-back shot from Bandaogo and a steal and layup from Justin Harmon.
But Utah State answered and manufactured key buckets, including 6 points from Funk, hemmed things up defensively, and closed the game on a 20-7 run.
Jones hit a 3-pointer that had the arena erupt and get back to a double-digit lead with 5:23 to play. Steven Ashworth buried a deep shot to extend the lead to 15, all but icing things with 3:02 to play. And Funk tacked on a layup with 1:01 left to play to reach 75 points and grant the fans free Culvers ice cream.
An impressive way to close the game.
"I think it took us a little bit to figure out how we were going to guard them," Funk said of the Wolverines' 20-11 run to open the second half. "We made a lot of adjustments. We switched one through five at one point. I think that gave them a little bit of trouble. And then our offense just got flowing; we made some shots, we found the advantage, we got the mismatches we won and we just fed off that."
Another question perhaps answered? The rebounding game.
Without Bean, the second all-time leader in rebounds for the program, and Horvath, the 7-foot-center, the Aggies' ability to be effective on the glass was in question.
But against a Mark Madson-led team that rebounds effectively, the Aggies dominated the boards. Funk, who injured his foot in the offseason and missed Utah State's two secret scrimmages in the preseason, led the way with a career-high 14 boards. Bairstow stepped up, too, with his eight rebounds.
Utah Valley was limited to just 6 second-chance points and were outrebounded by the Aggies 47-34.
"When we recruited (Funk), you see the pretty jump shot, you see his offensive game, but in the recruiting process, we felt like,' OK, he's proven at a high level that he can rebound, too,'" Odom said. "Did you expect him to get 14, or will we get 14 every night? No, he won't, but it was great to see that."
Offensively for Funk, he was 2-of-7 from the 3-point range, which dips below last year's team average of 34.2%; but, the team, as a whole, shot well from beyond the arc in the opener and went 8-of-19. Max Shulga was 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and Sean Bairstow was a perfect 2-of-2.
"We expect to shoot the ball well; we feel like we have good shooters," Odom said. "... We'll see how it shakes out throughout the season."
A dominant win over a solid in-state opponent to open the season is about as good of a result as the team could can ask for in Odom's second season. And having a guy like Funk, who is not only pulling up from the logo but also pulling in 14 rebounds, had a lot to do with it.
