Tag: Ian Martinez

Utah State Basketball: Danny Sprinkle Earns 100th Career Victory Tuesday Night

Utah State Basketball: Danny Sprinkle Earns 100th Career Victory Tuesday Night Coach Sprinkle has continued his winning ways in Logan. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire First year Head Coach Danny Sprinkle earns 100th career victory, nineteen …

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Utah State Basketball: Danny Sprinkle Earns 100th Career Victory Tuesday Night

Coach Sprinkle has continued his winning ways in Logan.

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

First year Head Coach Danny Sprinkle earns 100th career victory, nineteen earned in Logan.

No. 17 Utah State is riding a three game winning streak after their 82-61 win over visiting San Jose State. The win added to the Aggies momentum after a visit to New Mexico ended a then fifteen game winning streak which garnered the program attention regionally & would eventually lead to national recognition.

The recognition is warranted, given the fact that a first year head coach coming from a different level of basketball having success almost immediately is usually unheard of. But Danny Sprinkle is doing it. Doing it with an entirely new roster & no returners from last season, also unheard of even in this day and age.

Tuesday night’s home win before the Aggies head on the road to what everyone in the conference knows is a hard place to win, Viejas Arena. Though that’s days away, plenty of days to plan, prepare & rest. But also days to celebrate. Celebrating Danny Sprinkle’s 100th career win as a head coach in just four and a half short seasons.

The former Montana State standout was given the job back in the spring of 2019. The former Bobcat player spent four years at the helm in Bozeman. Starting off a tad bumpy in an industry navigating covid-19 like every else.

Coach Sprinkle turned things around in year three and four, posting 25+ wins, 1 regular season championship, 2 conference tournament championships & back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths.

The 47 year-old year old Sprinkle turned those results & a near upset of No. 3 seeded Kansas State last March into a job offer from one of the Mountain West’s most underrated jobs.

Since being named the head man at Utah State, a job that has seen their last two head coaches poached for other opportunities, Sprinkle continues to shine. With his Aggies picked to finish 9th in the Mountain West back in October, Utah State

Utah State is 18-2 (7-1) on the year with rankings of 22nd (NET) & 31st (KenPom), four consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 & are in sole possession of first place in one of the more competitive iterations of the Mountain West in recent memory.

For now the future looks bright in Logan. Even though a job offer from a high major conference seems likely down the road. Aggie fans can enjoy the Magic Danny Sprinkle and company have brought with them from Bozeman.

Larry Muniz covers college basketball as a writer for Mountain West Wire and WAC Hoops Digest. Also as a co-host of the college basketball podcast “Hoops Talk W/Jay & Larry”. He is also a USWBA Member.

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Camren Wynter’s last-second shot lifts Penn State over Maryland

Penn State basketball got a big boost for its tournament hopes with a thrilling win over Maryland.

March has treated Penn State very well. On the first of the month, they beat Northwestern at the buzzer in overtime. They followed up that ending with another buzzer beater against Maryland to win 65-64.

It was a great ending for the many seniors that played their last game in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Senior Night is always an emotional game for any program. It was especially emotional for Penn State on Sunday as they said goodbye to their seniors on their home floor for the last time.

Penn State started the game out hot, jumping to a 10-4 lead four minutes into the game. Maryland responded and went on a huge run as Penn State’s offense went ice cold.

After taking a 15-14 lead on senior [autotag]Michael Henn[/autotag]’s three, they didn’t score a point for over eight minutes.

By the time they broke the drought with four minutes left in the first half, Maryland had taken a 28-17 lead.

The deficit increased and the Nittany Lions went into the locker room trailing 35-22. It would have been worse if not for [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag]’s buzzer beating three before halftime, a prequal to what was coming later in the game.

On Senior Night, it was the seniors who led the way for their comeback victory.

It was a game of runs in the second half. Penn State would cut into the deficit and then Maryland would extend it. The Nittany Lions were still trailing by ten points with five minutes left in the game.

From that point on, only seniors scored the rest of the way.

[autotag]Myles Dread[/autotag] hit a three to cut the lead to five. He finished the game with 11 points and three made three pointers. This is a good sign for Penn State and Dread who has been struggling late in the season.

With 43 seconds left, [autotag]Camren Wynter [/autotag]made a layup after a beautiful pass from Pickett to give Penn State their first lead of the second half.

Maryland’s [autotag]Julian Reese[/autotag] hit a layup of his own to get the lead back.

Trailing 64-63 with 19 seconds left, Penn State had one possession to win the game.

[autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] pulled up from three at the top of the key. The ball bounced off the rim and into a scrum of players. Wynter, the smallest player in the scrum, came up with the ball. He immediately went up and scored a layup to give Penn State a 65-64 victory.

That’s two game winners from Wynter in the last two games. He’s been on a tear down the stretch, playing a huge role in Penn State’s strong close to the regular season.

Pickett scored a team high 16 points, adding seven rebounds and seven assists. [autotag]Andrew Funk[/autotag] added 14 points with four three pointers. Wynter scored six points but had the most important basket of the game.

Maryland senior guard [autotag]Jahmir Young[/autotag] scored a game high 26 points with eight rebounds. Reese, [autotag]Don Carey[/autotag] and [autotag]Ian Martinez[/autotag] joined Young in double figures.

With this win, Penn State secured a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and will be playing on the second day.

Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy, Andrew Funk, Camren Wynter, Michael Henn and Myles Dread were the seniors honored on Senior Day.

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