INDIANAPOLIS — The eight vs. nine game is always one to watch, and the game between No. 8 Utah State and No. 9 TCU on Friday in the Midwest Region round of 64 was no different. This matchup gave fans the opportunity to see how a Mountain West outright champion would fare against a middle of the pack Big 12 team, and for Mountain West fans it ended in a way they’d hoped. Utah State won 88-72, pulling away late with more physicality than TCU.
“Unbelievable win,” Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. “Just the toughness and the grit our guys showed against a Big 12 team.”
His team looked like the team that won the Mountain West outright and played with a joy commonly seen from the Aggies.
This one started out close, like most eight vs. nine games, with no team taking control for any part of the first half. Utah State’s Great Osobor made his presence known early, scoring the ball inside like he’s known for as the Mountain West player of the year.
“We got off to a good start,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said, “but still didn't feel like we were doing what we needed to do defensively and as it went on, they just continued to get layups, continued to out-execute us, and simply put, we were outplayed.”
The Aggies did show signs of pulling away at the end of the half, though, and held a 43-37 lead into the break.
After the second half started, it was more or less the same style of play with no team controlling the scoring, but a few minutes into the half USU got going. TCU was always within striking distance, but never mounted a run in the second half. The Aggies used great shooting out of players like Ian Martinez and Darius Brown Jr. to get out in front and they never looked back, making sure a TCU run was never in the cards. Martinez explained that they prepared for TCU well and in reference to their physicality.
“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” Martinez said. “It was expected. Yeah, we had the right mentality”
This right mentality proved to be the difference in his great game.
Isaac Johnson had a phenomenal night for USU on both sides of the ball, but especially on the defensive side of the ball he was key.
“I think it's more so just my mindset and belief in myself,” Johnson said. “That's something that I've really been working on.”
TCU, though, played tough for most of the game and showed flashes of why they were selected to be in the tournament. They always play physical and when shots are falling, they can be a great team that is very dangerous. Utah State, though, did a great job defending the Frogs, which is why it avoided a TCU comeback.
For the stat sheet, Martinez led scorers with 21 points, while also assisting four times. Speaking of assists, Darius Brown Jr. had ten assists himself, along with 10 points for a double double. Johnson had 19 points in a great game, making two threes that really ignited the Aggie fans in the crowd. Great Osobor had 13 points and seven assists in a game where he scored when he needed to, but passed it on to his teammates late in the game. All these guys showed how effective they all can be in a big game, and why they won.
TCU, though, had some good performances themselves, most notably Ja’Kobe Coles with 19 points including three long-range shots. Emmanuel Miller, the usual scorer for TCU had 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double double. The rest of the Frogs seemed to have lackluster performances, something that’s unfortunate in the NCAA Tournament, but speaks to the nature of it being single-elimination and always being ready.
It was apparent that, late in the game, Utah State was really feeling it, Martinez was really controlling the ball and Osobor was scoring at will down low. The long range shots were falling and this team looked like a team that could potentially upset one seed Purdue on Sunday.
View the Hoosier Network's coverage of NCAA Tournament games in Indianapolis here.
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