Evidently, seven was the magic number. After their fifth- and sixth-straight wins last weekend, the Aggies acted matter-of-factly. But early Tuesday morning, after win No. 7 in a row, 78-70, on national television against a well-known basketball team, well, Utah State cut loose. The Aggies, their coaches and their fans danced on the Spectrum floor like they'd just won the NCAA title instead of a ragged game against Rutgers.
All that was missing was a trophy of some kind to hold overhead."They're celebrating like they won the national championship - and we're picked seventh in our league (Atlantic 10)," said Rutgers coach Bob Wenzel.
Well, the Aggies were picked preseason to finish seventh in their league, too. With both teams coming into Monday's late-nighter at 8-3, and with Rutgers holding the distinction of having beaten UNLV 91-85, obviously there's overachievement on both clubs.
So if the Ags want to dream now that they're 9-3, what's the harm? As long as they're ready Thursday in Santa Barbara.
"We're just rolling right now," said Aggie captain Kendall Youngblood. "The University of Utah win (74-72 OT on Dec. 10) and this win might help us if we're on the border for NCAA or NIT (National Invitation Tournament)," he said.
Youngblood - who had 22 points, six assists and tied a career high with 13 rebounds - was the Aggies' go-to guy much of the second half.
But he had a strange beginning - three quick turnovers that had some in the crowd calling to coach Kohn Smith to remove him. He did for a minute, then reinstated him, and Youngblood collected 10 rebounds the first half. The second half, he scored 16 of his points but had an even stranger ending: an 82 percent free-throw shooter missing five straight with the game on the line.
Youngblood was so far off Wenzel had his team foul him to get the ball back.
It might have worked if Rutgers hadn't missed four of its free throws in the final four minutes.
Or if the Aggies hadn't gotten two late free throws by Jay Goodman, two by Malloy Nesmith and four by Todd Gentry.
"I just felt so sick for him to miss those free throws," said Smith. "There isn't a guy I'd rather have up there."
Youngblood allowed himself no excuse but offered one to Rutgers for missing its foul pitches - "They were tired; it was 12 o'clock for them," Youngblood said. The game started at 10:13 p.m. MST - after midnight in New Jersey.
"It seemed like we wore them down," said Smith.
"At midnight and 5,000 miles from home, we didn't play well enough to win," said Wenzel.
Rutgers looked like a runaway winner early with 16-8 and 18-10 leads while USU lobbed bad shot after worse. It finished the first half 1-for-12 on 3-pointers (.091) and .294 from the field overall. The Scarlet Knights were 33 percent from the field the first half, .366 for the game, and .481 from the foul line for the night. Ag game percentages were .388 from the field, .688 from the charity stripe.
Smith figured nerves from national TV were part of the problem. "We did a really good job after getting down to start. We buckled down to get back in," he said. At halftime, he told the Aggies they weren't hitting perimeter shots but seemed to be winning inside and to give that a try.
"They're another team that didn't have that much of a big-man game," said Aggie big man Carlito DaSilva (17 points, 11 rebounds), so we just pounded it inside."
"The big kid (7-foot Nate Wickizer) and the Brazilian (6-8 DaSilva) together, they hurt us with that," Wenzel said.
Rutgers was already in foul trouble - 14 in the first half to eight for USU, with three fouls each to center Chuck Weiler and forward Mike Jones - so the Ags had room to work in the second half. After a 33-33 halftime knot, USU opened with three unanswered baskets. "The start of the second half was really key," said Smith.
Rutgers never recovered, though it had a chance when USU went to a semi-stall with five minutes left and only made two more field goals. Rutgers cut an eight-point lead to five but couldn't get closer despite Steve Worthy's furious finish.
Worthy had three baskets and three rebounds the last 1 1/2 minutes and totaled a game-high 27 points plus 10 rebounds.
Alvin Rich was the only other Scarlet Knight in double figures with 11 points; USU had its customary four: Youngblood, DaSilva, Nesmith and Goodman - and Wickizer had eight points, seven rebounds and just three fouls.