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LOGAN — On the first Saturday in January, Utah State was flat out punished by Boise State.
The Aggies failed to defend the Broncos and got overpowered on the glass to fall 82-69 in Boise. The game was a wake-up call, of sorts, for the Aggies.
In the two months since, the Aggies have fought to prove its worth in the Mountain West Conference and show it can hang with anybody as it tried to build a proper NCAA Tournament at-large resume.
The efforts reaped fruitful in the most emphatic way on Saturday evening in front of a sold-out Spectrum crowd.
Utah State built a big lead early, staved off Boise State late, and picked up a Quad 1 win over the team that punked them two months ago. The Aggies came away with an 86-73 win over the Broncos to close out the regular season and finished tied with the Broncos for second in the conference standings.
Aggies senior Taylor Funk finished with 24 points, Steven Ashworth had 19 points, and the Aggies might find themselves on the right side of the bubble as they enter the Mountain West Tournament as a No. 3 seed.
"We've improved a lot since (the game in Boise)," Funk said. "Our defense really picked it up. And that's why we won tonight. You win games on the defensive end, and we're just fortunate to have a really, really good offense."
Utah State entered the rematch with Boise State playing its best basketball of the season and on a four-game win streak, which included a recent blowout win over UNLV. In a must-win game for its at-large hopes, Utah State carried the momentum into Saturday's game.
The Aggies matched the Broncos with 29 rebounds, eight of which came from Funk and seven from Sean Bairstow, and outscored Boise State in the paint 46-28. Utah State also held Boise State to 33 points on 37% shooting in the first half, which was good enough to build a 14-point halftime lead.
Offensively, Utah State's 86-point total and 57% shooting percentage was the most allowed against the Broncos' defense, which is ranked 10th nationally in KenPom.
"Really proud of the guys. Obviously, a lot of pressure for both teams for this game," Aggies head coach Ryan Odom said. "It's really hard to score on them, and it's really hard to keep them from scoring. ... We got off to a good start and we played really hard."
In the first half, the Aggies overwhelmed the Broncos; Ashworth had four steals, all of which turned into points the other way. Boise State's Tyson Degenhart, Max Rice and Marcus Shaver Jr. struggled to get going as Utah State defended well.
The student section — out in force despite it being spring break — enjoyed every second and utilized signs and chants to brazenly jeer the father-son combo of Boise State coach Leon Rice and Max Rice. When Ashworth found RJ Etyle-Rock for a breakaway layup with 1:09 left in the half to go up 47-27, the arena was in pandemonium.
The Broncos never went away, though.
Rice hit a handful of big second-half 3-pointers, Dagenhart added 10 second-half points, and a layup by Marcus Shaver Jr. with 2:15 left to play cut the Aggies lead to six.
Funk, who entered the game hitting just two of his last 25 3-pointers, assured it was as close as the Broncos would get, though. Funk received the dribble handoff from Dan Akin, pulled up, and drilled the 3-pointer to seal the game.
"Confidence is key. You're a different player when you play with confidence, and that's all that this coaching staff gives you," Funk said. "Open man is the best man, best shot is the open shot. We kind of live by that and we have really good shooters; it could've been anyone. The guy went under the screen, and I think any of our guards could've shot that shot; it just happened to be me."
The gratification from the Aggies inside the building after the game was palpable, as Funk and fellow seniors Akin, Etyle Rock, Trevin Dorius and Bairstow addressed the crowd. Fans chanted "one more year" to Bairstow and Dorius, who both have the option of using their fifth year.
It was a rewarding senior night.
Dorius set the tone from the get-go and flushed a one-handed alley-oop slam on the first possession of the game; Bairstow, who had 12 points, had back-to-back contested layups in the second half to keep the Broncos at bay; Akin (14 points) went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and slowed down Degenhart defensively, while Etyle Rock provided 14 minutes off the bench.
The teams' collective satisfaction ran deeper than that, though.
In January, the Aggies lost to Boise State, Nevada and San Diego State on the road by double digits. Since then, the Aggies have revamped itself from a live by the 3-pointer team to a do-it-all, well-balanced squad. Utah State has since defeated New Mexico, Nevada, and now Boise State by double digits at home to finish the regular season 24-7.
The win over the Broncos was the most rewarding, though — not just because it's a signature win over an elite conference rival to potentially punch a ticket to the Big Dance, but because the Aggies won the game by being the tougher team and dictating the pace of the game on both ends of the court.
"Our guys were ready," Odom said. "They were just ready to compete the right way, and I thought our guys did that tonight. Composure, competitiveness, confidence, all those words kind of rang true for our team tonight."
