In the aftermath of the controversial finish to the Utes' 66-64 loss at Utah State last night, it's worth noting that the Utes had lobbied the referees to add time back on the clock during an Aggie timeout with 17 seconds left.

The refs gave them about one second, resetting to 18.

But it's dubious to suggest that extra second cost the Utes a victory, just because Utah State's Tai Wesley made a tip-in with -- evidently -- only 0.1 seconds left at the Smith Spectrum. Rather, the Aggies probably would have simply allowed that extra second to run off the clock before beginning their final play with the same time remaining that they did.

What mattered more, no doubt, was the missed free throws in the final 90 seconds.

The Utes missed two that could have turned into three points -- guard Lawrence Borha missed the front end of a one-and-one -- and forced the Aggies to try a lot lower-percentage play at the end, just to force overtime. The different time-and-score scenarios that would have resulted from that almost certainly would have dictated a different sequence of events over the final minute, too, and certainly could have played out even more strongly in favor of the Utes.