11-0 second-half run powers No. 20 Utah State to blowout win over Wyoming

Utah State came into Tuesday night’s game with a target on its back after getting ranked in the Top 25 for the first time this season. And for the first 20 minutes, it appeared that the Cowboys might have the 20th-ranked Aggies in their sights. 

But after leading by just two points at halftime, Utah State exploded for an 11-0 run to open the second half and cruised to an 83-59 victory over Wyoming. 

“I think we came out a little bit sluggish after the emotional win (Saturday over then-No. 13 Colorado State),” USU guard Darius Brown II noted. “But after halftime, we knew we had to get better and just come out and put our stamp on the game.”

The Aggies (15-1 overall, 3-0 in the Mountain West) have now won 14 straight games, which serves as the longest current winning streak in the country. Houston, which opened the season 14-0, suffered its first loss of the year Tuesday at Iowa State. 

Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle, who is off to the best start of any first-year basketball coach in USU history, has yet to lose a game in the Spectrum at the helm of the Aggies.

“Unbelievable crowd again,” Sprinkle said. “I appreciate everybody coming, especially with the blizzard outside. But the Spectrum never lets you down. The place was rocking. 

“When we started making that run and finally got some stops and some steals and some run-out dunks in that second half, the place was just electric. They win games for us.”

Brown, who secured a double-double with more than 13 minutes left in the game, ended up with 13 points, 11 assists and just one turnover, while junior forward Great Osobor, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week, finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. 

The duo, who both transferred from Montana State when Sprinkle was hired away from the Bobcats last spring, combined for 13 of USU’s first 16 points of the game, then caught fire again at the start of the second half. After Osobor scored on the left side of the basket, sophomore center Isaac Johnson knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game to extend USU’s advantage to 40-33. 

Brown buried a 12-foot jumper a few minutes later, then after Johnson snared a defensive rebound, he fired a pass ahead to a streaking Osobor for a breakaway slam dunk that extended USU’s lead to 44-33. 

That led to a massive eruption from the crowd of 8,214 people who braved an early-evening snow squall in Cache Valley to reach the Spectrum, but Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder elected not to call timeout. That proved to be a mistake when Brown promptly came up with a steal to trigger another fast break that resulted in another transition dunk for Osobor. 

“Great’s one of my best friends and my roommate, and we have great chemistry together,” Brown said of Osobor. “We talk about a lot of things with each other — and not just basketball — and really know how to communicate with each other, and that goes a long way on the floor. 

“I know where he’s going to be, and he knows where I’m going to be. We had a great relationship at Montana State that’s just carried over.”

The Aggies, who ended up totaling 24 assists, 11 steals and outscoring the Cowboys 14-0 on fast-break points, scored 30 of the first 42 points of the second half in just 12 minutes to leave Wyoming (8-8, 1-2). 

“In the first half, obviously, you put yourself in a position going in the half, and the problem is it’s not a 20-minute game, it’s a 40-minute game,” Linder said. “… I give Coach Sprinkle and their team credit. It’s not like they’re a team where they go out there and wow you with their athleticism, just freaky talented. But what they do have is they got their starting five, they don’t make a lot of mistakes. 

“And it starts with Darius Brown and Great Osobor, two guys that were Big Sky players. Darius Brown started his career at Northridge in the Big West and then the Big Sky, and that’s what guys don’t realize is how good players are, like winning players, and that’s what those two guys are. They set the tone.”

After making just one of nine 3-point attempts in the first half, the Aggies went 5-for-13 from beyond the arc in the second half, while shooting nearly 61% overall from the field. 

Johnson finished with 10 points, and starting guard Mason Falslev contributed nine points and three assists. 

The Cowboys’ leading scorer, Sam Griffin, who came into the game averaging more than 18 points a game, finished with just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting. Senior forward Mason Walters led the visitors with 17 points, and senior guard Akuel Kot totaled 14 points.

“Wyoming had our respect,” Sprinkle said. “I had a bunch of people say, ‘Hey, is there going to be a letdown after Colorado State?’ We’re not good enough to have a letdown. I love our guys’ mindset of getting better. They came on Sunday and we turned a page. We barely talked about Colorado State. It was over and they locked into the scout and what we needed to do to be successful tonight, and they did it.”

The first-place Aggies will put their winning streak on the line Saturday afternoon at UNLV.