Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Arena #162: Dee Glen Smith Spectrum - Utah St. vs. Wyoming

I’ve been to a lot of states for the games I’ve attended thus far on Mission 351, but I had never seen a college hoops game in the state of Utah before visiting Arena #162,  the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, UT, on the campus of Utah State University.  As such, Utah became the 39th different state (including DC) where I’ve seen a game.  Only 11 more to go since Alaska has no Division 1 programs.  On this evening, the Utah State Aggies were taking on the last place Wyoming Cowboys in a Mountain West Conference showdown.

The Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was celebrating its 50th anniversary as the homecourt for Utah State this season and the building definitely showed its age in some parts.  However, I would say overall the building was better than I might have expected from a 50 year old venue.  Being a basketball only facility, the layout was perfect in a circular fashion with all seats facing the court where I imagine there aren’t really any bad seats in the house. Traveling solo to this game, I was fortunate to snag a single seat in the first row right at the sideline and baseline intersection so I could really feel like I was in the action.  Now the bad part was that the concourse for Dee Glen Smith Spectrum is at the top of the seating bowl so if you want to get concessions or use the restroom during the game, a front row seat means walking up 40 or so rows to get back to the concourse. 

For being the worst team in the conference record-wise, the Cowboys kept the game close through much of the first half before the Aggies pulled away in the last few minutes to take a 15-point lead into the break.  Now this is when things really got interesting as the halftime entertainment ended up being an aerialist who graduated from Utah State previously.  In all my previous games, I’ve never seen this as a halftime act and it was equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as a curtain was dropped from a hole in the ceiling and this girl climbed the curtain to probably 25-30 feet in the air at times using just the curtain as support for some pretty incredible stunts and movements.

After the break, Wyoming once again did a good job of staying within 10-12 points for a lot of the second half (even cutting the lead to single digits a few times) before Utah State’s star senior Sam Merrill took over scoring and facilitating.  Merrill was honored pregame for crossing the 2,000 career point mark in the Aggies’ prior game.  The only drama in the final couple minutes was whether or not Utah State would cover the 21-point spread for all those gamblers out there.  USU made 2 free throws with less than 20 seconds left to go up 23 points before Wyoming would come down with under 10 seconds left and bury a 3-point basket for a final score of 78-58 in favor of the Aggies.

Outside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, UT
Seating bowl of the arena before most of the fans arrived

Opening tip between the Aggies and Cowboys

Utah St. star Sam Merrill attacks the basket a layup early in the second half

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