By Sydney Chapman On Saturday, the Utah State University men’s basketball team descended into the depths of The Pit to take on the University of New Mexico — and its notoriously rowdy fans. The Aggies emerged from the hostile environment a few hours later with a win over both parties.
Going into the game, the team knew that gaining a victory wouldn’t be easy, even given New Mexico’s 9-10 record. “It's going to be a tough test for us,” junior guard Sam Merrill said. “It's hard to win in their place. They have a really good home court advantage.” Dreamstyle Arena — often referred to as “The Pit” — is known for being “a mile high and louder than hell.” The slogan was coined to describe the deafening sounds of the faithful Lobo fan base that attend the games there. “It's definitely one of the craziest places I've played at,” Merrill said. “They're very passionate and very loud. Their players feed off of it.” Senior Quinn Taylor said the crowd got particularly loud in the second half. But that all changed when Abel Porter hit a game-winning three for the Aggies with 1.8 seconds left. “They got really quiet, really quick... I mean we were going crazy but the fans and atmosphere — just everything left,” Taylor said. It was the Aggies’ first win in The Pit since February 2015 and Taylor’s first win at New Mexico in his four years at Utah State. “It was a great game,” Taylor said, “a game that's going to prepare us for down later in conference, conference tournament and post-season.” The Aggies will return to their own rowdy crowd for Wednesday night’s game in the Spectrum against San Jose State University.
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March 2019
CategoriesAbout SydneySydney Chapman is a journalism student at Utah State University. A former intern at Deseret News and avid sports fan, Chapman has experience covering professional sporting events and writing on trending topics. She uses this website to report on the Utah State University men's basketball team. |