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LOGAN — A number of players on Utah State are capable of filling up the scorebook this season, but nobody will do it with the same pizazz as Steven Ashworth.
Four days after Sean Bairstow and Taylor Funk went for 19 and 18 points, respectively, Ashworth came off the bench and popped off against Bradley on Friday night.
He pulled up off the dribble and buried NBA-range 3-pointers, curled off screens and nailed open jumpers. Toward the end of the game, he scrapped a play-call and launched it from 30 feet out, just because he could.
In all, Ashworth buried five 3-pointers, posted a career-high 28 points and grinned ear-to-ear while doing so, to lead Utah State past Bradley 84-62.
"Some nights, you feel like you're throwing rocks in the ocean you can't miss," Ashworth said. "And tonight was one of those nights."
"He was incredible," Utah State head coach Ryan Odom said.
Zee Hamoda added 15 points to match his career high, Funk went for 13 points and eight rebounds, Dan Akin had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, and the Aggies improved to 2-0 on the season.
Out of Peoria, Illinois, the Braves were ranked second in the Missouri Valley Conference in its preseason rankings; and on Friday night, ranked 128th in KenPom — higher than Mountain West opponents Nevada and New Mexico — the Aggies made Bradley look helpless, at times.
Ashworth certainly aided their demise.
His 3-pointer capped off an early 12-2 run to give the Aggies a 23-9 lead 10 minutes into the game. Nearing the end of the half, Ashworth created space off the dribble and buried one from beyond NBA range to go up 45-30 at halftime.
STEVEN SPLASHWORTH™️
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 12, 2022
⚡️ @stevenAsh_15#AggiesAllTheWaypic.twitter.com/IIRtbHHoci
Bradley tried to make it interesting and went on a 9-0 run in the second half to make it 61-48 with 10 minutes left in the game, but the Aggies closed out the game on a 23-14 run.
Ashworth capped the game off with a pull-up jumper from roughly 30 feet — much to the delight of 6,875 fans in attendance — to give the Aggies an 82-62 lead. Somehow, Ashworth's career-high came on just six made field goals; he was 6-of-11 from the field, 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
"I thought everything else has dropped tonight, why not this one," Ashworth said. "So I honestly don't even know how far away I was. But from the reaction of the crowd, I think it was pretty far."
"Yeah, I mean, it's unbelievable," Odom said. "I mean, you see it on a nightly basis in the NBA, there are guys that are able to do that — obviously, Curry being one of them. When you're able to stretch the defense as deep as he does, it really makes the lanes and the driving opportunities that much better, because the defense, they overreact to you."
The team followed suit; the Aggies shots 48% from the field, 46% from beyond the arc and 85% from the free-throw line.
Four players scored in double digits — three of whom came off the bench — and three of them were guys who were relatively quiet during Monday's win over Utah Valley.
While Shulga and Bairstow went from double-digit scoring nights on Monday to 7 and 4 points games, respectively; Akin went from 6 points to 10 points, Hamoda went from 3 points to 15 points, and Ashworth increased his scoring by 19 points.
Defensively, the Aggies were proficient, too, and held the Braves to 35% shooting from the field and 33% beyond the arc; the Aggies also outrebounded Bradley 46-31. Takeaway some offensive sloppiness — Utah State had 15 turnovers that turned into 11 points for Bradley — it was about as complete a night as the team could have.
"There are a few stretches where we weren't playing quite in ourselves, and we just turned it around," Ashworth said. "We were able to shoot the ball at a high clip today — a lot of guys did, myself, Taylor, Z, just about everybody stepped on the floor played really well tonight."
The night, however, belonged to Ashworth.
"Steven just has, I've always said it since the first time I met him, he's just got that moxie, where he's got that inner belief in himself," Odom said. "He's a competitor. I'm just glad that he's wearing that Utah State uniform."
