WBB Review: Utah State Undone, Again, By Slow Start

LOGAN – An animated Wes Brooks could be heard shouting to his team throughout the game, particularly during the third quarter – when he had a clear, blunt message.

“Make them respect you."

It was unclear who, exactly, he was talking to, if it was any specific player at all. It was also unclear who the “them” that he was referring to. Their opponents, the fans, the refs, the administration, each other. It could have been anyone.

After the game, Brooks elaborated a bit – and revealed that the answer is, essentially, all of the above.

“The program has a reputation and a history of losing, and (we’re) trying to change the losing culture… you have to will it. You have to change the trajectory. It’s a rallying cry for our team as well. Make them respect you," Brooks explained, starting to pound the table as he spoke. “Play so hard that they have to respect you. Dive on loose balls so they have to respect you. Defend without founding so they have to respect you.”

That’s what Utah State women’s basketball is all about right now: Changing a losing culture, on and off the court. It doesn’t happen in a day, though Brooks admits he’s getting impatient.

“I have great people in my ear saying, ‘Wesley, zoom out.’ I understand this wasn’t built in a day, but I want to get there because I never want to be in this situation again where we’re (1-11),” Brooks said.

The team still, through 12 games, needs to earn some respect. Hopefully, winning, at some point, will be a byproduct of that. Right now, it’s a slow process – and it’s a process that now includes a 74-59 loss to UC Riverside in Utah State’s long-awaited return to the Spectrum.

“I didn’t think we had our best stuff tonight, and that was kind of unfortunate coming back off the road from all those road games,” Brooks said. “I thought we actually showed some signs and played really well on the road. I thought we did really well against a really good Grand Canyon team. I thought we did really well against an Idaho team that was older. We showed flashes against certain teams, but tonight, I was a little bit disappointed in our execution.”

UC Riverside is a far cry from some of the titans the Aggies faced on the road. The Highlanders didn’t beat Utah State in the same fashion that Colorado, Ohio State, and Utah did – with a stark advantage in sheer force, talent and depth. Instead, the Highlanders got out of the way and let Utah State beat itself, doing just enough to pile on when needed.

“There are a couple of things that come to mind. We got the tip and we executed the opening tip play, I thought, ‘Okay we came to play tonight.’ Then, all of a sudden, we give up two open threes, uncontested,” Brooks said. “And I told the girls coming into the game there are a couple of things we have to do. We have to keep them out of the paint, we have to contest the three, we have to box out and then we have to protect the ball… That’s what winning requires. We didn’t do those things tonight.”

The Aggies came up short on all counts. UC Riverside had 30 points in the paint to Utah State's 28; Utah State was outrebounded 37-31, but the real damage came on offensive boards, where the Aggies were nearly doubled up, 15-8; Those two threes Brooks mentioned were part of a 9-of-23 shooting performance from beyond the arc for Riverside; and Utah State had 26 turnovers with UCR snatching 14 steals.

Utah State has been cobbling together good games from the likes of Mia Tarver, Jamisyn Heaton, Carlie Latta, Elise Livingston, Taliyah Logwood, Denae Skelton and others, which has been particularly impressive given the absence of Cheyenne Stubbs. The Aggies hoped to pull all those performances together as Stubbs returned to the floor, and would be in great shape if they could. They were as close to full force as they’d been in over a month, finally back at home, and seemed poised to make a jump.

They just couldn’t quite get it together in time. Stubbs returned, but didn’t appear to be back to her full speed, and Livingston dropped off after recording a career-high. Instead of aligning the best they have to offer, they aligned some slumps. The Aggies got three points from Stubbs, two from Livingston and one from Logwood. Not all the stars were quiet. Heaton returned to the lineup and did the heavy lifting with 14 points, Latta added 10, Skelton was good for eight, Tarver had seven, and Gracie Johnson stepped up to record six. It just wasn’t enough.

Riverside’s quick start, fueled by the duo of uncontested threes that Brooks mentioned, got the Highlanders out to a 12-4 lead. A layup from Sophie Sene and threes from Latta and Stubbs transformed the eight-point game into a two-point game, and twice Heaton hit a bucket to cut it to one, but the Aggies couldn’t get enough to level it back out. Brooks pointed to this stretch when the Aggies failed to catch up and said it was a turning point in the game. 

“We were down 20-16… we missed four straight layups," Brooks said. "We make those and we get a lead. And then after those, we had (seven) possessions where we didn’t score… It's just hard. It’s really, really hard.”

Luckily for the Aggies, the Highlanders had a cold spell at the same time and didn’t punish their hosts too harshly for their mishaps, taking a 23-16 lead at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter. Heaton finally hit a layup with six minutes remaining for Utah State's first points of the frame, but Riverside responded with a three to keep the Aggies at bay. Approaching the halfway mark, the Aggies had another chance to try to make some inroads. 

“We had a decision at the end of the half where I said hold for one shot and we did not hold for the shot," Brooks said. "So, we don’t hold for the shot, we turn it over, and then we come back and foul and they get two points.”

This miscue left a scoring opportunity on the table and handed the Highlanders two free points. What could have been a potentially six or seven-point game at the half was suddenly an 11-point game, 37-26.

The third quarter began much like the first, with an Aggie layup followed by a Highlander blitz. Heaton got a steal that led to Stubbs assisting Livingston for a bucket, but it was quickly overshadowed by a 10-0 run from Riverside, and the Aggies found themselves down big. Latta came to the rescue with a triple to stop the bleeding, but even with the three-point boost, the Aggies trailed by 16.

Beyond the 10-0 run, the Aggies outscored the Highlanders 15-8 in the quarter, which was enough to get back in the game but not enough for anything more. As they have been wont to do, the Aggies used a few short stints of poor basketball to back themselves into a corner, then spent most of their time and effort trying to fight their way out. It hasn’t been a winning strategy.

“We have to learn to play and not spend so much energy coming back that (we) can’t get over the top… When we settle down and do things the right way, we get back in it, but for some reason we don’t come out and do it right away or we have lapses," Brooks said. "We’ve even tried shortening rotations and changing the bench. We’re analytically analyzing every lineup that we play, searching for answers. We are really grinding and searching… I want to play well from the start and I like to play with a lead."

By the end of the game, the Aggies were playing on pace with Riverside. They closed out the third quarter with four straight points and played even in the fourth, outscored by just one point, 19-18. The early deficit was too much to overcome without a similarly dominant stretch of play, though, and Utah State couldn't muster that.

The Aggies are now officially done with non-conference play and will take a 1-11 record into their league slate as they host Colorado State on Dec. 29.