What does Utah State need to work on between now and the NCAA Tournament?

LAS VEGAS — No. 18 Utah State was out of sorts for the better part of the final 27 minutes of its 86-70 loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament semifinals on Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Yes, the Aggies stormed out to a 17-point lead in the first half thanks to a 22-2 run.

What people were talking about by game’s end, though, was how the Aztecs flipped the early Utah State momentum and dominated the final two-thirds of the contest to turn it into an uncharacteristic lopsided loss where the opposition dictated the game.

It was the type of finish to an otherwise unforgettable, regular-season championship-winning conference season that had first-year coach Danny Sprinkle promising his team would find answers.

“We’ll find out in practice. We’ll be a lot better in that first round of the NCAA Tournament,” Sprinkle said.

“Then we have to clean up — sometimes we play a little bit too much iso ball. The ball gets sticky, and we don’t have enough ball and body movement at times, and that’s when our offense gets a little stagnant, so we have to correct that.”

The Aggies will find out their NCAA Tournament seed and first-round opponent on Sunday, with the tourney selection show beginning at 4 p.m. MDT on CBS.

How much experience does the Utah State roster have with the NCAA Tournament?

Sprinkle, the first-year Utah State coach who was named the MWC Coach of the Year and is up for the Naismith national coach of year award, reconstructed a championship roster largely from scratch when Ryan Odom left for VCU last offseason.

The former Montana State head coach brought in a few transfers with NCAA experience — Great Osobor and Darius Brown II played in the tournament under Sprinkle at Montana State, while former Utah and Maryland guard Ian Martinez played in the NCAAs at Maryland.

“Yeah, we only have a handful of guys that have played in the NCAA Tournament or have witnessed it. You have to play desperate. You have to play desperate, and you have to be tough and physical. I expect our team to respond,” Sprinkle said.

The coach is also confident Utah State can learn from this loss.

“Sometimes losing games helps you win the next game. I think that’s going to be the case with this because it showed what we need to work on this time of year,” he said. “When it’s March, you have to put your big boy pants on, man. It’s go time. We had a couple of guys that did not do that today. We’ll make sure that they’re ready whether it’s Thursday or Friday, whenever we play.

“The urgency and desperation you have to play with every possession, every free-throw box-out, you have to set great screens and take care of the basketball because one bad turnover, one missed box-out can end your season.”

What can Utah State take away from the MWC tournament?

There were some positives mixed in with the learnable lessons from the loss to San Diego State and USU’s quarterfinal win over Fresno State.

The Aggies only had eight turnovers against the Aztecs, but San Diego State turned in a 13-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

Osobor had 29 points and 17 rebounds in the win over the Bulldogs and put up 11 points in the first 10 minutes against San Diego State, but he had less of an impact after picking up his second foul in the latter moments of the first half and finished with 19 points and five rebounds.

Martinez found his range again against the Aztecs, making three of Utah State’s five 3-pointers and finishing with 16 points, one day after shooting 1 of 12 against Fresno State.

Talented redshirt freshman Mason Falslev also returned to the lineup after missing the Fresno State game due to injury. He started and played 20 minutes to go with six points and two rebounds before reaggravating his shoulder injury.

“He kind of banged it up a little bit in the second half — early in the second half, when he went up to contest,” Sprinkle said. “I think (Micah) Parrish hit a three, and he went up to contest and kind of jerked, and I saw him kind of holding it.”

Utah State’s MWC tournament experience also left an impression about finishing strong.

Against No. 9 seed Fresno State the teams combined for seven runs of seven or more points, as the underdog Bulldogs kept fighting back and scored the final eight points in regulation to force overtime.

At least against the Bulldogs, Utah State responded by scoring the first 11 points of overtime to put the game away.

In the loss to San Diego State, the Aggies trailed by seven going into the game’s final three minutes, but they were outscored 11-2 after that.

What lessons can help Utah State in the NCAA Tournament?

Sprinkle said his team is fortunate they have at least another game to bounce back from the struggles they went through Friday night — for a lot of teams, it’s just season over.

Utah State’s head coach also lauded how playing through a rugged Mountain West schedule this year could help come the NCAA Tournament.

As many as six MWC teams could make the NCAAs, if the latest bracketology projections are correct.

“The atmospheres that we play in, the venues in the Mountain West Conference are tremendous. The intensity, the physicality, all that is going to help our whole entire league once we get to the tournament,” Sprinkle said.

Sprinkle emphasized Utah State will need to play its best basketball to survive and advance in the NCAA Tournament — the Aggies haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2001 — and reiterated how the MWC schedule has helped condition them for the grind ahead.

“Any time you lose, it shows what you need to work on. We still have to clean some things up, even though it’s March, like every team. Going into this tournament, we are going to have to play — we’re going to have to be running on a high level if we want to have a chance. Because every team we play from here on out is going to be a great team,” he said.

“It will be similar to a Mountain West type schedule. Every night, there’s no days off. We’ll have to clean up a lot of things offensively with kind of our flow and our pace, and we’ve got to be tougher on the boards.”