- Utah State's season ended with a 78-66 loss to top-seeded Arizona.
- USU coach praised the team's accomplishments despite falling short of the Sweet 16.
- Arizona advances to face Arkansas in San Jose after a strong performance.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Making it to the Sweet 16 will have to wait for the Aggies.
For the 21st time after making the Big Dance, Utah State had its men's basketball season end before the second weekend. Top-seeded Arizona weathered a dryspell in the second half and pulled away for a 78-66 victory in front of 11,501 fans at Viejas Arena Sunday evening to advance in the NCAA Tournament in the West Region.
"Proud of our guys," USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "All year long to do some of the things that this group was able to accomplish is not easy. One of the most connected teams I've ever been a part of, from our managers to our staff to our administration, to our players, the most important guys in the program, they truly loved one another, wearing the Aggie uniform, wearing the Utah State uniform truly meant something to these guys. I think you saw that in their fight the last seven, eight minutes, their refuse-to-lose mentality. But hats off to (Arizona head) coach (Tommy) Lloyd and the Wildcats."
There will be no Cinderella for the second straight year in the NCAA Tournament as the Aggies (29-7) were the last mid-major team to be eliminated. USU was trying to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1970, after winning a first round game for the second time in three years.
"Obviously, it hurts right now to go back and look at everything you've accomplished just because I think we wanted that game pretty bad," Aggie guard Drake Allen said. "I think we know that you know we could have beat those guys if we would have maybe played a little bit better.
"But this group of guys right here next to me (which included Garry Clark, Zach Keller and Kolby King) and the guys back in the locker room, we've accomplished so much. Just being so connected. The experiences on and off the court winning a conference championship, regular season championship and tournament championship at Utah State is something that I think that will be remembered for a very long time. We should keep our heads high. We should be proud of the year that we had, no matter what the way it ended, the way it went right here in this last game, we should hold our heads high and be proud."
For the fourth time in five seasons Arizona (34-2) has advanced to the Sweet 16. The Wildcats move on having won 11 in a row.
"Just really proud of our guys," Lloyd said. "Obviously, it's an important game. Season's on the line. These guys came out and got us off to a great start. We had to weather some storms. Give Utah State a lot of credit. They create a lot of adversity, switching defenses and they kind of throw you out of your rhythm on offense a little bit. We weren't as good in the second half of getting the ball inside and just obviously had too many turnovers.T hey amped up their pressure and their press, so I'm going to give them credit. But our guys did a good job in there. You hang in there, hang in there. You have a little lead you just need to make one or two plays in a timely fashion, and then you can kind of ride the game out."
Trailing by 18 points with 14:42 minutes to play, it was looking dire for USU. After a timeout, the Aggies were able to claw back to within four with 6:33 to play when Allen hit a 3-pointer to cap a 21-7 run.
"It's a gritty team," Clark said. "We had a bunch of dogs in the locker room. They made runs; we made runs. We believed that we belonged here. So it wasn't a surprise to us, just clawing back, possession by possession. And it didn't end how we wanted it to, but I'm proud of how everybody fought."
USU would answer several Arizona scores to stay within four. The last time being another Allen trey off a pass from MJ Collins Jr. after he made a steal and pass to Allen. The 3-pointer pulled the Aggies within 63-59 with five minutes to play.
"We were just juggling every big we could," Calhoun said. "I thought when we finally went to Garry that's when we clicked. Garry has a great set of hands. I thought he got his hands on some basketballs. I thought our ball pressure was much better. We trapped them multiple times, which led to some steals. And it finally looked like Aggie basketball. We were playing on our heels instead of our toes. We got some run-outs and steals. And just get to the rim. When you can't find it, the ball won't go in from three, you've got to get to the rim. I was really proud of our effort around the rim. I thought we were pretty efficient."
Then Arizona's Jaden Bradley heated up. He scored eight points during a stretch when the Wildcats were struggling to score. Bradley ended a drought of seven-and-a-half minutes without a field goal with a circus shot, then converted a three-point play to keep the favored team in front. Brayden Burries beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer at the 2:16 mark that Calhoun called a "dagger" of a shot.
"Obviously, Brayden's three was pretty big-time," Lloyd said. "And then J.B. (Bradley) had some great drives and foul pressure down the stretch of that last 10 minutes. And I thought Koa (Peat) was really special in the second half and had to deal with some foul trouble. Really proud of our guys. Excited we get another opportunity to play next week."
The Wildcats will face fourth-seeded Arkansas on Thursday in San Jose, Calif.
Down nine, the Aggies launched 3-pointers on four straight possessions that did not find the mark. Karson Templin dunked a pass from Allen for the final points of the game as USU had its five-game winning streak end.
"The thing about the game was we didn't let our inability to score affect our defense the last eight, nine minutes," Calhoun said. "That's the maturity. That's the want-to. That's your seniors. That's a team. To battle those guys and play as bad as we did offensively is really just a test to the character of the group and not to give up. And I was really proud of that."
Clark led a trio of Aggies in double-digit scoring with 13 points. He was joined by Collins (12) and Allen (11). Clark also paced USU in rebounding with six, while Collins, Allen and Mason Falslev each had three assists. Falslev came up with three steals, and Adlan Elamin blocked three shots to equal his career high.
"Drake (Allen) and obviously MJ (Collins) and Kolby (King) and Zach (Keller) … I thought all of them gave us everything they had. They should be really proud," Calhoun said. "I thought Garry (Clark), in particular, just found a groove. His motor was operating. He's battling. … And I thought he just went after every rebound. He set good screens. And he just never gave up. His attitude was unbelievable over the last two weeks.
The Wildcats were led by Bradley with a game-high 18 points. He was joined in double-figure scoring by three teammates in Burries (16), Peat (14) and Motiejus Krivas (11). The 7-foot-2 Krivas also grabbed a game-best 14 rebounds and blocked three shots. Peat had three rebounds.
The Wildcats scored first with a 3-pointer by Burries and never gave up the lead the rest of the way. The Aggies countered with a bucket from Elamin.
USU would miss its next five shots, and Arizona went on a 7-0 run to get some breathing room right out of the gates. The Aggies called a quick timeout, down 10-2 three-and-a-half minutes into the contest.
Collins did score five straight points for USU out of the timeout with a rebound bucket and drilled a 3-pointer off a pass from Falslev to get the Aggies within 10-7. They would get no closer the rest of the opening half.
The Wildcats used a 8-0 run during an offensive dryspell by USU. The Aggies went more than four-and-a-half minutes without scoring and found themselves down 27-16 with 6:13 left in the first half.
USU showed some life with back-to-back buckets from Allen and Falslev, but the Wildcats continued to get to foul line and took a 33-24 lead into the break.
Arizona was 11 of 17 at the free throw line over the first 20 minutes, while USU was 1 of 2. The Aggies also struggled from long range in the first half, making just one. The Wildcats made four treys and also outrebounded USU 27-17, grabbing 12 on the offensive glass.
The Aggies were able to knock down a trio of shots from beyond the arc in the first three minutes of the second half, but couldn't slow down the Wildcats. Arizona then went on a 9-0 run in a span of two minutes to take a 51-33 lead with 14:42 to play.
After a timeout, USU was able to get four straight stops on defense and score six unanswered points.
The Aggies kept fighting and the Wildcats went seven-and-a-half minutes without a field goal. Arizona did make five free throws as USU got within 56-51 with 7:27 left in the game.
The Aggies would get within four on three occasions, but could get no closer.
"Obviously we didn't like our seed," Calhoun said. "I think we played certainly better than a nine seed and didn't deserve that. But we didn't pout. We didn't sulk. We rolled up our sleeves. We had great prep. And these guys laid it all on the line. Really proud of how hard they've played."
