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6 observations from Utah State’s 10th straight loss to BYU

The Aggies’ comeback efforts fell short, as missed opportunities piled up in Provo

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) IUtah State Aggies forward Brandon Horvath (4) comforts Utah State Aggies guard Rylan Jones (15) following a missed opportunity in basketball action between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Utah State Aggies at the Marriott Center in Provo, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021.

Utah State dropped its 10th straight game to BYU on Wednesday. It’s also the second straight loss for the Aggies, the first time it’s happened to USU in the young Ryan Odom era. Both of those back-to-back losses were to good teams — Saint Mary’s is 49th in the NET and BYU is 20th in the NET and 24th in the AP Poll — but there will be frustration over how winnable both of those games were.

Here are six observations on USU’s 82-71 loss to BYU.

1. Comeback falls short

With 11:31 to go in the game, BYU led by 20 points, 66-46. Utah State came roaring back with a 16-3 run to bring the game to 69-62. At that point the Aggies’ offense stalled, failing to capitalize on a great defensive stretch.

BYU scored just three points over a nearly eight-minute stretch in the latter end of the second half. The first five minutes of that span featured USU’s 16-3 run. For the next three minutes, no one scored. Utah State in those three minutes missed two field goals, four free throws and had one turnover.

“We just needed to keep it going,” USU junior guard Sean Bairstow said. “At one point we got eight stops in a row and didn’t score on any of those offensive possessions on the way back.”

After bringing the game to 69-62, it took Utah State nearly four minutes to score again. By then, BYU had recovered, and the comeback bid died.

“Unfortunate that we couldn’t put a little bit more pressure on them there at the end,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “Credit to them, they made their free throws down the stretch and finished it out.”

“I am proud of (our) guy’s effort in that second half in terms of their willingness to fight for it,” Odom added.

2. Aggies left too many points at the free throw line

BYU’s best defense in this game might have been to send Utah State to the free-throw line. The Aggies were 9-for-20 at the charity stripe for a whopping 45 percent (tied for seventh-worst single-game percentage this year by teams that attempt at least 20 free throws).

The first-half free throws might not have hurt as much, but when USU missed six straight shots at the line during its second-half comeback attempt it severely mucked things up.

“Just didn’t knock ’em down,” Bairstow said. “Need to get back in the gym and work on it.”

“Sometimes it can be contagious,” Odom said, adding that you can’t underestimate the impact fatigue can play in free-throw shooting during a comeback.

“When you’re out there on the court, and you’re down 20 and you’re chasing them around and all of the sudden you’re beginning to get back in it. And that’s you’re time to relax and sometimes you relax too much,” Odom said.

Utah State had free-throw troubles in its season-opening loss to UC Davis (17-for-28, or 60.7 percent) but in the seven games after had made 84.1 percent of free throws as a team and never worse than 73 percent in a single game. The Aggies’ 79.4 season average on free throws ranked 16th in the nation heading into the game.

3. BYU comes out of shooting slump against Aggies

The Cougars came into this game shooting 29.4 percent from three, a rather low number for most BYU teams. Wednesday saw an end to that trend with BYU shooting 11-for-24 from deep — the highest the Cougars have shot against a Division I foe this season (BYU also shot 11-for-24 against Central Methodist).

Trevin Knell led the way for BYU, making 3 of 4 attempts from deep, all in the first half (Knell had made just 7 of 32 three this season). Alex Barcellos, Tre’Jon Lucas and Spencer Johnson each made a pair of triples.

4. First-half run separates the two

It may be too simple to boil an entire game down to one run, but after Utah State tied the game at 17-17, BYU went on a 12-0 run. Those four-and-a-half scoreless minutes of that run haunted USU the rest of the game.

Take out that single run and this game was a tight, blow-for-blow game all night. Excluding that run, Utah State outscored BYU by one point and the Aggies outscored the Cougars in the second half 38-37.

5. Sean Bairstow shows up to play

Bairstow missed the first six games of the season due to a broken wrist and lacerated kidney but showed out in Provo in what was his third outing of the year. He scored 11 points — eight in the second half — which ties his career-high against Division I opponents (Bairstow scored 14 against Eastern Oregon last year).

The junior guard went a perfect 5-for-5 on shots inside the 3-point line, though he struggled when shooting beyond the arc (0-for-3) and at the free-throw line (1-for-4).

6. BYU extends its streak against the Aggies

From 2001 through that 2011 game, Utah State had won seven of 11 contests against BYU. But since the apology USU has yet to defeat the Cougars. The 10 straight BYU victories make up the second-longest streak of the rivalry’s history. BYU won 15 straight from 1986 to 1993 (the two teams played twice per year from 1986 to 1992, aiding the volume of the win streak).