Utah State basketball: Aggies turn in stellar defensive night vs. Colorado State

Fort Collins • Even Preston Medlin had to whistle at what his team accomplished.

The way his team played defense early on, there was no need to worry about putting up a ton of points.

"I don't know if we've done a better job this year of keeping teams to a low percentage. That was a big key for us. We didn't score as much in the first half, but it didn't really matter because it really helps when you play defense."

The Aggies had one of their best defensive performances of the year, holding Colorado State to only 29.8 percent shooting from the floor. Their only better night came against Troy in December when Utah State rolled in similarly dominant fashion.

They didn't shrink from the Rams' physical play, and they forced ugly heaves and chances. Minutes would go by between Colorado State's field goals.

It was beautiful, the Aggies said.

The one shortcoming was the foul situation: Toward the end, the Rams streaked straight at Utah State defenders and threw up shots to get to the line. The Aggies, though victory was secured, got a little flustered, and Colorado State shot 21 for 23 from the charity stripe.

There's things to improve, but it was mostly a virtuoso-level defensive night for the Aggies.

Medlin moving up in record books

Medlin didn't take long Tuesday to keep moving into Utah State's top players in program history.

The Texan became the fifth Aggie ever to shoot 200 career 3-pointers, joining Jaycee Carroll, Tony Brown, Reid Newey and Jay Goodman. He hit the milestone less than three minutes into the game, and ended hitting another 3-pointer as well.

Medlin is also still climbing the all-time scoring list. His 18 points against Colorado State places him at No. 16 with 1,293. He started out the night at No. 19, passing Spencer Nelson, Shaler Halimon and Mike Santos during the game.

Marcel Davis continues improvement

The Marcel Davis reclamation project is going well since he returned to the rotation against Nevada a week ago. Not only have the Aggies won all three games, but the sophomore has merited minutes.

He finished against the Rams with a team-high six assists and no turnovers, adding five points and four rebounds while shooting 2-for-2 from the field in 24 minutes. It was his best game yet since getting back in the lineup.

Davis still had his shaky moments, and Colorado State's pressure at the end caused some problems for him and the Aggies in general. But his standing in the program appears much more solid than it was not too long ago.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon