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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Utah State got blown out on the road by the Colorado State Rams, who led wire-to-wire, falling 75-55 Saturday afternoon.
"This league is too good, to where if you don't play as hard as you could possibly play, you have no chance in this league. It's too good," Aggies coach Danny Sprinkle said. "That falls on me. I didn't have my team ready to play as hard as we needed to play tonight."
It certainly was not a great outing overall for the Aggies. Utah State got dominated in nearly every facet of the game, struggling on offense, stopping next to nothing on defense, fouling too much, and losing the rebound battle by a large margin. The Aggies trailed the Rams 45-32 on the boards and 48-26 in points in the paint.
"We're getting outworked a little bit in the post," Sprinkle said. "We have to get better. We have to get tougher and more physical in the paint."
At half, the Aggies entered the locker room down 43-26, a 17-point deficit. They did shrink the lead down slightly in the early minutes of the second half, but Colorado State came back strong and extended their lead to 20 in the final minutes of the game.
The Rams were led by tenacious guard Isaiah Stevens, who holds the all-time scoring record in Colorado State history and claimed the career made 3-point shots school record Saturday, as well. Stevens finished with 18 points and eight assists. Joel Scott added eight rebounds and 17 points for the Rams on 7-of-9 shooting.
"He's phenomenal, he's so quick, he's so unselfish, he never forces anything," Sprinkle said of Stevens. "He's one of the best point guards I've ever coached against. … There's a reason he's going to play professionally for a long time."
Among the only bright spots for the Aggies was Javon Jackson, who scored 10 points off the bench on a perfect shooting night. Jackson scored all his points in the second half, leading the Aggies in points during that period.
Great Osobor also added 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting and recorded 13 rebounds.
Saturday was the second meeting between the two schools this season. In the first meeting, Utah State held on at home to beat the Rams 77-72 early in conference play.
Utah State has just five games remaining in the regular season: at home against San Diego State, on the road against Fresno State, back at home versus Air Force, on the road once again against San Jose State, and their regular season finale at home against New Mexico.
The Aggies' matchup Tuesday against San Diego State now has, perhaps, even more on the line, since the two teams are currently tied for first place in the Mountain West with the regular season winding down.
