‘Physically manhandled;’ What Utah State head coach said after blowout loss to Boise State

Broncos dominate Aggies, 82-65, in critical Mountain West game

Utah State Aggies guard Ian Martinez. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

With an opportunity to take the lead in the Mountain West Conference men’s basketball standings, Utah State played arguably its worst game of the season Wednesday night at Boise State. 

The Broncos (20-8, 12-5) dominated in all phases to secure a runaway 82-65 victory over the Aggies (24-5, 14-4) at ExtraMile Arena. 

“Boise State was very, very physical. I thought we got physically manhandled from start to finish,” Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said after the game. “It’s one thing to lose, but to get dominated like that was very, very disappointing. 

“You have to credit Boise State. They were the hungrier team.”

The Aggies now trail New Mexico (22-6, 14-3) by half a game in the MWC standings. The Lobos swept the regular-season series with Utah State. 

Colorado State (19-9, 13-4), San Diego State (19-7, 12-5) and Boise State are all still alive in the MWC title race. 

Here are the highlights from Calhoun’s postgame radio interview.

On Boise State’s physicality

“They’re just bigger. They have bigger athletes. If you don’t impose your will on those guys, they’re going to push you in the back, they’re going to chuck you, and that’s what they did. We didn’t impose our will. When you get pushed the whole game, you’ve got to push back, and that’s the thing I’m disappointed in. I thought we didn’t push back, we didn’t fight. At times we did, but they out-played us from a physical standpoint.

“The thing about it is, this time of year, you don’t have time to dwell on it. You have to turn the page. But we will show a ton of clips of us getting manhandled on the glass, on our cuts.”

On Utah State’s lackluster effort

“We haven’t been beat like that all year. We got manhandled in one of the biggest games (of the year), we didn’t step up. So collectively, it’s on all of us. I couldn’t help them. This was a game, I don’t know what I could do to try to help them because we didn’t compete.”

On Saturday’s game at Colorado State

“You’ve got to bounce back. The fact of the matter is we had a chance to stay in the lead in a conference tournament race, and we got our butt handed to us. It doesn’t sit too well the way we lost. It’s one thing to lose on the road, Boise State is a really good team. All these teams are really good in their home environment. But to lose like that was very, very disappointing.”

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