WBB Review: Utah State Breaks Out The Brooms

LOGAN – “I think we finally put together a full 40-minute game… to be able to finish out a full game, it feels great,” senior guard Cheyenne Stubbs said, shortly after Utah State defeated San Jose State by a score of 82-75 on Wednesday evening.

“It feels amazing to be able to get this win at home in front of the crowd. I think it'll bring more people on Saturday and people will keep on believing in us just like we believe in each other.”

“It felt great getting a win in the Spectrum in front of all of our home crowd,” CJ Latta added on Friday. Although she said she wasn’t aware of it beforehand, Latta commented on some of the milestones that the team hit with the win, adding to its significance.

“There was a lot of history within that, that we heard about. (It was our) first sweep in a long time (and our) first home conference win in a couple of years. So it was really nice to do that.”

Both Stubbs and Latta had every right to feel good about the win, as both the senior and the freshman played a pivotal role in Utah State’s comeback victory. Both hit massive three-pointers with under two minutes in the game to help the Aggies finish their comeback effort and keep San Jose State at bay as it tried to claw its way back. In both instances, the Spartans had just hit a three-pointer of their own to cut the Aggie lead to one point, and in both instances, the Aggies relied on a clutch play to push the lead back to four. Stubbs, who hit the first of the two with 1:56 remaining, said she’s been watching Netflix’s Court of Gold and that she was inspired by Steph Curry’s confidence in big moments to bolster her own.

“I love those moments," Stubbs said. "I really embrace them. So, I want the ball in my hands at that moment and I believe I can make something happen either for another teammate or for myself… So that's what really was going through my mind was really just, 'Get a bucket. No matter how you do it, just get a bucket and make sure it goes in.' That was that.”

Moments later, Latta followed in the steps of her mentor and hit a big three-pointer of her own. To ice the game, Stubbs hit a pair of free throws, and again Latta followed suit, hitting two free throws of her own with two seconds left to seal the victory. Wes Brooks didn’t just call their names with the game on the line in the waning moments of the contest, he called their names for all 40 minutes.

“I told both of them, I learned in New Mexico they can both go 40, so why not?” Brooks said. “So I'll rest them tomorrow a lot… that’s big-time guard play.”

Stubbs said she felt ready to play for a full game.

“I’ve prepared myself and conditioned for it,” she said. “To be able to go out there and have coach Wes and everybody else be able to trust me that I can be on the court for that long is a confidence booster.”

The Aggies needed all 40 minutes of basketball from both Stubbs and Latta, who combined for 50 points on the night, to stage their successful comeback effort. They slowly drifted behind early as Amiah Simmons torched them, and they struggled against the physicality of the Spartans. After a lackluster first quarter, Utah State trailed 22-16. It fared only slightly better in the second, and found itself down by seven, 43-36, at the half.

A 10-0 run early in the third put the Aggies in command for the first time, but the Spartans didn’t go away quietly, and the Utah State ended up in need of big plays from its playmakers to hold on. To stay in, and eventually win the game, the Aggies took a surprising route on the defensive end. They opted to change something that has become an integral part of their identity, and call off the full-court press.

“I challenged our team’s defensive effort, and so we took the press off, made it a half-court game, which sometimes you have to do,” Brooks said.

He described the press by saying, “It’s a high risk, high reward thing,” and said that the reward just wasn’t there against the Spartans. They weren’t converting it into points, and San Jose State was breaking it, so they decided:

“Let’s just play half-court defense. That’s something we’ve really been working on,” Brooks said. “So, we played good half-court defense. When we did that, we forced them to score over us, which is what we wanted… We really played well defensively in the half-court. We had good communication.”

He credited those defensive adjustments for the win, explaining that the team’s goal is to force opponents to shoot under 37 percent from the field.

“We did that in the third and fourth quarter, which is why we won the game,” Brooks said.

The Aggies forced 15 turnovers with six steals and four blocks while giving up 16 assists. They turned quite a few of those into scoring opportunities, and had 18 points off turnovers on the day. They also used a big rebounding campaign in the second half to overtake the Spartans. After two quarters of play, the Aggies had been outrebounded 17-15, with most of the damage being done in the 16-6 second quarter. By the end of the game, the Aggies had evened it out and were only outrebounded by one, 39-38.

Leading the way was Stubbs, who had a season-high 30 points, 22 of which came after the half, plus four rebounds, four assists, two steals, 12 fouls drawn and zero personal fouls.

“What an effort by (Stubbs),” Brooks said. “(She had) 30 points, but I think the stat that will stand out if you look on the boxscore is 12 fouls drawn, which is huge because it puts players in foul trouble and it gets the whole team to the free-throw line."

With her 12 fouls drawn, she earned 16 free throws and went 12 of 16 on those opportunities. To get there, she said she was “just being aggressive and attacking.” She continued, “It’s kind of hard to guard someone when they're going full speed at you, so it's just like being able to attack full speed downhill and just go up not really looking for contact, but they're going to foul.”

She added, “I'm not too happy about what I did at the free throw line today, 12 of 16, that's not really my best. So, I just have to keep on working on my free throws.”

Right behind Stubbs was Latta, who also played a full game and made the most of her 40 minutes on the floor. She delivered a career-high of 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. She went 7 of 10 from the field and 4 of 7 from range.

After those two, Jamisyn Heaton had eight points, and a trio of Aggies had six. Heaton’s performance is not to be overlooked. She filled up the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocks. Elise Livingston, along with both Mia Tarver and Taliyah Logwood off the bench, had six. Livingston’s points came from a pair of three-pointers, and she had a rebound and an assist on the night as well. Tarver, who also came up with some big plays in the clutch, had six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Logwood had a pair of rebounds. As they prepare to close the season and head to the conference tournament, the Aggies are playing some of their best basketball, and they're on the hunt for more wins.

“I like the way we played the last month now, so this is six games in a row and we've played really, really well,” Brooks said. “We went and looked at the stats as a staff. If we could have shot 35 percent in the last five games before tonight, we would have won three of those games.

“So, I like how we're playing. We're actually playing decent ball at the right time… We can go out and play well on Saturday, then we get ready, and it’s a brand new slate at the tournament.”