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SACRAMENTO — Faced with a whiplash of emotion, only sadness protruded through the hollow frame of the moment as two of Utah State's leaders sat at the Golden 1 Arena media podium on Thursday afternoon.
Just 45 minutes earlier, senior forward Dan Akin soared through the air for a dunk, and 10th-seeded Utah State held the lead and momentum against seventh-seeded Missouri with 10 minutes remaining in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Aggies are out of the Big Dance in the first round, falling to the Tigers 76-65.
As graduate transfer Taylor Funk tried to articulate the season's impact in the same instant it was over, the words hardly made their way through the tears.
"Yeah, looking at the season, made the best memories of my life with these guys," Funk said, with tears in his eyes. "They're my brother. Credit to the coaching staff for bringing me out here."
As Funk continued to speak, Steven Ashworth's eyes watered up, as well. Soon, Funk's parting words were overwhelmed by the sadness, and head coach Ryan Odom subbed in to finish answering the question.
"I think you can see, these guys have genuine care and love for one another," Odom said. "A brotherhood. It's hard to end your season."
In a game the Aggies were viewed as -1.5-point favorites, they struggled to hit shots and were overwhelmed by Missouri in the final stretches of their season. The Aggies made just four of their 24 3-point attempts, many of which were open looks, and watched the Tigers knock down 10-of-25 from deep.
Despite the shooting woes — the Aggies opened the game 0-of-13 from 3-point range — Utah State was industrious in finding ways to score and took the lead well into the second half.
Then Missouri's Kobe Brown started to take over.
With 9:24 left to play, the 6-foot-8 senior guard buried a 3-pointer over Akin, turned to his head coach Dennis Gates, and said, "I'm here."
Brown scored 12 straight points for the Tigers, including three straight 3-pointers, to give Missouri a 6-point lead. Teammate D'Moi Hodge stepped in from there and hit three 3-pointers; and a tightly contested game flipped into a double-digit loss for the Aggies.
"Brown was tremendous — two really difficult 3s," Odom said. "Obviously, Hodge got loose there, as well. All of a sudden we were chasing the game pretty quickly. Up two, then all of a sudden we're chasing; that's not easy to do."
An Aggies team that's showered teams with offensive barrages en route to a 24-win season didn't have a final one to counter, nor one to start with, either.
Utah State scored a handful of buckets in transition, including an emphatic dunk from Sean Bairstow in the first half, and Akin's back-to-back dunks in the second half. The Aggies found success in the pick-and-roll game, got to the rim, and shot 68% from inside the arc.
But the 3-point attack necessary to get the offense fully churning was never established by the Aggies.
Funk, who had 16 points, had a bucked waived off because he was called out of bounds; and Ashworth, who finished with 12 points, peeled off a screen and missed an open look at the wing. The two combined for 4-of-20 shooting from 3-point range.
"At times, even if you're getting open looks in those situations, you can be a little rushed into those shots," Ashworth said. "I think the first half we had a little bit of that. At the same time, it was that we just weren't hitting the shots we normally make."
Aiding Utah State's demise was ball security — or the lack thereof. The lengthy Missouri defenders forced 15 turnovers, which resulted in 20 points for the Tigers — 6 points came in the first six minutes — and Missouri jumped out to an 8-point lead.
"We turned the ball over quite a bit here at the beginning, then began to settle into the game," Odom said.
For the most part, though, Utah State held its own against a team with superior athletes, outrebounding the Tigers 33-27 and forced its own 10 turnovers. Akin scored 12 points and Bairstow finished with 10 points as both managed to score around the basket.
But ultimately, Missouri hit big shots down the stretch, and Utah State couldn't; and a few sequences later, the Aggies were whisked away in its ninth straight first round exit. For Funk, Akin and RJ Etyle-Rock, it's the last game of their college careers. For Bairstow and Dorius, they'll decide whether or not to return for their fifth year.
But for now, the Aggies are wiping away tears as they walk out the door.
"Even though it hurts right now, as we begin to separate from it, as we go forward, then all it's going to be is the laughs — the times together, the fun memories that we shared," Odom said.
