North Carolina A&T Aggies at Utah State Aggies
· NCAA Men's Basketball
54 - 81
No. 17 Utah State pulls away to beat NC A&T 81-54
"I thought we did some really good things," Utah State coach Craig Smith said. "I thought we did a great job on the glass, outrebounding them 44-28, held them to 35% on the game, and 22 assists on 29 made baskets."
Ronald Jackson led North Carolina A&T with 15 points.
"I thought we went toe-to-toe with a very, very, very good program for maybe 30-31 minutes and then talent started to take over," North Carolina A&T coach Jay Joyner said.
With North Carolina A&T (1-3) rallying in the second half, Utah State (4-0) made a key run to pull away.
After trailing by as much as 15 points, North Carolina A&T cut it to six points on Fred Cleveland's 3-pointer with 14:03 left. Utah State regrouped and went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to make it 51-36. Utah State took advantage of three North Carolina A&T turnovers, with Bean scoring five of the Aggies' nine points.
"In the second half, when we had that lineup of small ball creating mismatches and scoring at will, I think that really helped us to extend our lead," Bean said.
For the third straight game, Utah State raced to a big lead, getting out to a 12-2 advantage. North Carolina A&T rallied through the first half to climb within eight points on Tyler Maye's jumper.
Utah State finished the half on a 10-3 run to take a 38-23 lead.
SCORING DISTRIBUTION
Utah State has had a different leading scorer in every game this season. Merrill scored 28 points in the Aggies' season-opening win over Montana State, Bean had 18 in a blowout victory over Weber State, and Brock Miller had 27 in the win over Denver.
BIG PICTURE
North Carolina A&T: North Carolina A&T hung with Utah State at points in the game and forced 15 Utah State turnovers, getting contributions from Jackson, Maye and Cleveland.
Utah State: Utah State was able to make runs at opportune times to pull away from North Carolina A&T. Sophomore center Neemias Queta sat out again, rehabbing his knee injury.
UP NEXT
North Carolina A&T: At North Texas on Tuesday night.
Utah State: Host UTSA on Monday night.
How can I watch North Carolina A&T vs. Utah State?
Recent Plays
| 2nd 0:00 | End of Game | 54 - 81 |
| 2nd 0:26 | Sean Bairstow made Layup. Assisted by Alphonso Anderson. | 54 - 81 |
| 2nd 0:34 | Trevin Dorius Defensive Rebound. | 54 - 79 |
| 2nd 0:34 | Fred Cleveland Jr. missed Three Point Jumper. | 54 - 79 |
| 2nd 0:41 | Webster Filmore Offensive Rebound. | 54 - 79 |
Statistics
 NCAT |
 USU |
|
|---|---|---|
| 21-60 | FG | 29-52 |
| 35 | Field Goal % | 56 |
| 7-20 | 3PT | 5-15 |
| 35 | Three Point % | 33 |
| 5-11 | FT | 18-30 |
| 45 | Free Throw % | 60 |
| 28 | Rebounds | 44 |
| 9 | Offensive Rebounds | 11 |
| 19 | Defensive Rebounds | 33 |
| 9 | Assists | 22 |
| 10 | Steals | 5 |
| 4 | Blocks | 5 |
| 14 | Turnovers | 15 |
| 0 | Team Turnovers | 0 |
| 14 | Total Turnovers | 15 |
| 0 | Technical Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Total Technical Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Flagrant Fouls | 0 |
| 9 | Points Off Turnovers | 20 |
| 8 | Fast Break Points | 12 |
| 16 | Points in Paint | 46 |
| 25 | Fouls | 13 |
| 0 | Largest Lead | 27 |
Game Information
Location: Logan, UT
Attendance: 8,864 | Capacity:
2025-26 Coastal Athletic Association Standings
| TEAM | CONF | GB | OVER |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNC Wilmington | 15-3 | - | 27-7 |
| Charleston | 14-4 | 1 | 21-11 |
| Hofstra | 12-6 | 3 | 24-11 |
| Monmouth | 11-7 | 4 | 19-15 |
| William & Mary | 10-8 | 5 | 20-12 |
| Drexel | 10-8 | 5 | 17-16 |
| Towson | 9-9 | 6 | 19-15 |
| Stony Brook | 9-9 | 6 | 17-15 |
| Campbell | 8-10 | 7 | 16-18 |
| Hampton | 7-11 | 8 | 13-19 |
| Elon | 6-12 | 9 | 14-18 |
| North Carolina A&T | 4-14 | 11 | 11-19 |
| Northeastern | 2-16 | 13 | 7-24 |