It was a shock to hear it coming from a Utah State player, and more of a shock that the player was a freshman in Jordan Stone who really doesn't play that much.
But here's his quote, following Utah State's 72-64 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night.
"We've got to keep trying to be consistent and play hard the whole 40 minutes. After they went on a run, we kind of sat back on our heels and we weren't attacking as much or playing as hard."
Now, Utah State is 14-14, and clearly not the same team as it has been. And the Aggies weren't as purely talented as the Gauchos. But for a freshman to comment that the rest of the team wasn't playing hard? That's a pretty shocking declaration.
But Stone may have a point. This USU team has been down in the last three weeks, no denying that. It seems to have started with that deflating defeat at Nevada, you know, the one the Aggies should've had. Since then, there was a loss to Fresno, a defeat to New Mexico State, a Montana Tech team that had USU down by nine in the second half.
Now this.
USU hasn't played well, and at this point, questions have to be asked.
Is this season isolated? Or the start of a slide?
Is this team going to be back next season? Or will Stew Morrill make major changes to his roster?
Will this USU team even win a game for the rest of the year, given its problems on the road and the fact that it's suddenly vulnerable at home?
How will this season affect recruiting, going forward?
Utah State hasn't had a losing season in 19 years, since the days of Kohn Smith.
The Aggies are in jeopardy of breaking that run if they don't start playing better. Much better.
Tony Jones
