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OGDEN — Maybe it was the game’s special guests — Utah Jazz players Donovan Mitchell, Royce O’Neal, Georges Niang and Naz Mitrou-Long — sitting courtside that inspired him.
Perhaps it was memory — dating back to last season, when his 27 points on 20 shots, proved all for naught in a 62-60 loss to the visiting Bengals.
Or maybe, it owes to something more simple — just a special player, doing special things, in a spot when his team needed it. The best player on the floor playing like it, despite the defense’s extra attention. Who knows.
But whatever it was, it was, in a word, spectacular — the kind of game Jerrick Harding enjoyed so regularly last season, but the kind that’s so eluded him in the current one. Until Thursday night, that is.
At the end of 40 minutes: 28 points, including four 3-pointers, as well as two rebounds, two assists and four steals. Impressive numbers, to be sure, and yet, they weren’t the storyline that lingered in memory following the game. No, instead, what was most memorable, was the way Harding compiled those numbers, the way he dominated the game and the way he energized his team when it looked lifeless early on in its 76-59 win over Idaho State.
As much as anything, it was the ease with which Harding took over the game. In his third-straight contest with over 20 points, Harding scored at all three levels: nailing an array of stepbacks, pull-ups and acrobatic layups against ISU’s lengthy defenders.
Offensively, he organized the group, from start to finish, and helped lead the Wildcats to 11 assists and 54-percent shooting (30-55) on the night. Meanwhile, defensively, it was the junior guard’s best performance of the season, with Harding moving easily across the floor and helping limit ISU (which ranked 26th nationally in three-point percentage) to 23 percent from deep.
Asked about the performance after the game, a soft-spoken Harding simply smiled and said: “I just had to come out and be aggressive and do whatever for my team. … I have to be aggressive. I’m a leader, so I gotta do what I gotta do.”
Meanwhile, Brekkott Chapman — who finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks — sitting next to Harding, interjected with a laugh, “Dude’s a bucket-getter.”
To Chapman’s point, Harding was a bucket-getter Thursday night, getting what he wanted when he wanted it. Possession after possesion, he tore up the ISU defense and created space where others couldn't. On the court, he moved freely, masterfully, and was unfettered on the majority of his forays to the basket, which were many.
At one point, he scored 20 of Weber’s 22 points as part of a 35-20 run that engineered a 53-45 lead with 13:13 remaining. And what’s more is that he assisted on the lone basket he didn’t score on.
“He got some good looks. His offensive efficiency is really good when we move the ball, and when he moves the ball,” head coach Randy Rahe said of Harding, who converted 10 of his 16 shots. “He got opportunities because we had the ball moving side-to-side.
"Highly, highly efficient tonight.”
It wasn’t just Harding that stood out, though. Caleb Nero, who played 26 minutes in the absence of Ricky Nelson, recorded 8 points and two assists, while Zach Braxton scored 7 points and Israel Barnes scored 6 poimts on a pair of threes. Additionally, freshman Dima Zdor added 4 points and seven rebounds, two shy of his career-high, in eight minutes of action.
The Wildcats’ strong defensive effort set the table for their offensive success. For the game, they limited the Bengals to 33-percent shooting, including 23 percent from three. They also turned 12 ISU giveaways into 15 points, and converted the Bengals’ 3-point misses into advantageous broken court situations on the other end.
Brandon Boyd, Kelvin Jones and Balint Moscan led the Bengals with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively, but were the only ISU players in double-figures in a game that nearly reset the team’s season-low in scoring.
“I was really pleased with our defense tonight,” Rahe said. “We worked hard on it this week and I thought our guys really responded to it.”
There was some Bengals’ fight early on, but the Wildcats withstood their best punch. After trailing 25-18, the Wildcats closed the second half on 21-4 run, spearheaded by Harding, who, during the sequence, danced into a stepback three, put the ball in the open court and showcased his patented flourishes at the basket.
He even buried a transition 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Weber led 39-29 at the intermission.
From there, the floodgates opened. Harding splashed a three to open the second half, continuing his hot hand from the first 20 minutes. And then, moments later, he assisted on Chapman’s jumper before knocking down two free throws to give the Wildcats a 46-32 lead.
The Bengals cut it to six, 51-45, on Stutzman’s three a few minutes later, but Harding answered with a layup on the other end and the Wildcats led by at least 8 points the rest of the way.
“I thought he (Harding) got us going in the second half,” Rahe said. “He came out and got going early. … He finished really well around the rim, made some really good plays around the rim.” Follow Dillon on Twitter @dillondanderson.
