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Logan • As odd as it sounds, Utah State's worst performance of the season might end up saving it.
Two weeks ago, the Aggies visited Wyoming. They watched the Cowboys bury 20 of their 38 3-pointers and cruise to a 84-65 victory.
Wyoming has not won since shooting down the Aggies.
On the other hand, Utah State is back on track after consecutive wins over New Mexico (80-72) and Colorado State (72-59). For the Rams, it was their worst loss of the season and second-lowest point total.
The Aggies are 13-11 overall and 5-8 in the Mountain West Conference heading into Saturday night's game at Fresno State.
"When a team gets sick of losing, they're going to do whatever it takes to win a game," junior forward Jalen Moore said. "We got blown out by Wyoming and, by that time, everybody was sick of losing.
"We came together as a team and wanted to win some games. We made a little bit of a line-up change, trying to give us some length [and] better rebounding. That has helped us a lot. Guys are just playing hard — giving it 100 percent."
Since coach Tim Duryea tweaked his starting line-up by inserting freshman center Quinn Taylor and junior power forward Lew Evans, the Aggies have improved defensively.
They held New Mexico seven points below its per-game average of 79. They held Colorado State, the Mountain West's highest-scoring team, 22 points below its average of 81. The Rams shot 32 percent, including 8-for-31 on three-pointers.
"We're doing a better job rebounding," Duryea said, "and I think we have a more physical presence. … We have an overall tougher mentality about us. We still aren't the toughest guys on the block by any means. But we're just a little bigger and stronger. I hope we can keep that going."
One telling statistic in the Utah State-Colorado State game was turnovers. The Aggies committed only five, tying a season-low set in a 94-69 rout of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in December.
"We slowed down a little and took care of the ball," Moore said. "We didn't try anything spectacular. We just did what we needed to do to get easy shots. We're a hard team to guard when we do that. It's tough to beat a team that only turns it over five times."
Utah State must continue playing well to have a chance at Fresno State, which has won five of its last seven games and is one game behind second-place New Mexico in the Mountain West race.
Last season at Save Mart Arena, the Bulldogs defeated the Aggies, 61-52.
"Fresno State is a really good basketball team," Evans said. "… We need to play good defense. We need to go in there and win this game so we can move up the ladder and finish as high as we can before the Mountain West tournament starts."
Utah State is eighth in the conference standings but only one game behind No. 6 Colorado State. After sweeping the season series from the Rams, they also own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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