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LOGAN — Nevada bullied Utah State to a 77-63 loss Tuesday in front of Aggies faithful.
"We didn't play hard enough. I didn't coach good enough," Aggies coach Danny Sprinkle said. "Credit to Nevada, I thought they played really well."
After a strong first half finish for the Wolfpack, the Aggies went into the locker room down by 9 points. Utah State (19-4, 7-3 MWC) struggled to match Nevada's physical brand of basketball and could get nothing going on the offensive side of the ball, finishing the first half shooting 31% from the field and just 21% from the 3-point range.
The officials, after making a number of controversial calls in favor of the Wolfpack, were booed off the court by the Spectrum crowd at the end of the first half. Relations between the officials and the Aggies didn't improve in the second half, either. Both players and fans expressed their disapproval, though the latter certainly did so much louder.
Yet through it all, Sprinkle, who is not typically one to shy away from expressing his dissatisfaction to officials, remained calm. He placed no blame whatsoever on the refs postgame.
"Stop whining and play harder" is the mentality Sprinkle said his team has to have on a night like Tuesday. "When you're aggressive, you get those calls, and Nevada was aggressive and they did it. I thought we were really soft at the front of the rim, we missed a lot of 'em … that's toughness and playing harder."
Though the Aggies were able to fight back to a two-score game more than once, Nevada made a number of crucial shots to extend their lead and put the game out of reach.
"We've got to play harder," Mason Falslev said after the loss. "The people out there, they deserve more from us, and that's our bad. Our missed shots should be made up (for by) our hard work on both sides of the floor, so I promise we'll work harder."
The Aggies' comeback efforts were largely led by guards Ian Martinez and Falslev, who finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Sprinkle gave some credit to Falslev specifically, noting his efficiency shooting the ball in the Aggies' back-to-back losses.
Great Osobor, who typically leads the team in scoring, did not play his usual minutes in the second half as he got his fourth foul with several minutes left to play and finished with 11 points.
The game remained relatively close until the Aggies' Hail Mary effort in the final minutes, where the Wolfpack extended their lead by a handful of points.
Nevada's Nick Davidson led the Wolfpack in scoring, finishing with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field (3-of-5 from three). Davidson also tallied 10 rebounds and an assist.
The loss is the Aggies' first at home this season; it also marks the first time this season the Aggies have dropped back-to-back games.
"We've got to play harder for (the fans), so we'll do that," Falslev said.
The Aggies will have another chance to break their losing streak at home Saturday against Boise State before a two-game road trip to Wyoming and Colorado State.
