Utah State, in control early, had to survive a last-second shot to tie the game.

And when the Aggies look for turning points this season, they may well remember the shellacking handed them by UC Irvine on Saturday. The Anteaters ran around, over and through the Aggies.

It was a wake-up call for USU (3-3), beaten mentally as well as physically. The Aggies played, in a word - one used by Aggie coach Stew Morrill - soft.

There is no worse tag than being called soft.

"I want to thank Irvine for beating us up," USU forward Tai Wesley said. "[Now] I put on my game face. I'm not a happy camper until I put someone on the floor."

Wesley eventually fouled out late, but, along with Gary Wilkinson and Stephen DuCharme, had control of the key area, which helped the team shoot 65 percent from the field. Jaycee Carroll's all-around brilliance completed the recipe for victory.

The three post players had their best game of the season and were a collective 16-for-18 from the floor for 41 points and 11 rebounds. Carroll finished with 20 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and zero turnovers.

"We slowed down a little bit," Carroll said. "We worked on our spacing on the floor. We looked so much better. It was good coming home.

"Irvine beat the crap out of us. It's not that Austin Peay was less physical; we were fighting back."

Austin Peay (1-2), picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference, rallied back from 14 points three times and pulled to within three several times down the stretch, but ran out of time. The Governors had three players in double-figure scoring, including Fernandez Lockett with 17.

"We didn't have great defense tonight, but on offense, we played pretty darn well," AP coach Dave Loos said. "We were so worried about their shooters and we gave up a lot of layups. They executed their plays very well tonight and we didn't."

Utah State brought more physical presence, but the Aggies also played relaxed. They didn't appear as uncomfortable running their offense.

"We kept telling them just to free up and just go play," Morrill said. "We've got a good group and they're trying really hard, but sometimes you can try too hard.

"We still turned it over too much, and [Austin Peay] really scored in the second half, and there's a bunch of things we've got to do better. But the end result was awfully positive for us."

martyr@sltrib.com

* USU guard Jaycee Carroll scores 20 points, grabs seven rebounds and passes for eight assists.

* Utah State center Gary Wilkinson scores 19 points on 8-for-8 shooting.