By Sydney Chapman The Utah State University men’s basketball team defeated the University of Nevada 76-81 on Saturday night in a game Aggie head coach Craig Smith described as a “heavyweight fight.”
And while no punches were thrown during the game, it was certainly an aggressive match up, as evidenced by the foul trouble on both sides. In total, seven players fouled out of Saturday night’s game. All three players the Aggies lost were starters, including big men Quinn Taylor and Neemias Queta. “It's something that we're not expecting,” junior guard Diogo Brito said. “But we got to be ready for it.” Forced to play “small ball” against one of the biggest teams in the conference, Utah State still managed to come out on top. “They really hurt us on the boards,” Brito said. “But at the end of the game we really were able to to come up with some big rebounds.” Prior to the game, the Aggies had been talked about as a team with a potential spot in the NCAA tournament. A win over the nationally-ranked Wolfpack, while being short-handed, has strengthened their case. “I think the best teams just can find different ways to win,” Smith said. “And that's what we've been doing lately.” Utah State now sits at number one in the Mountain West Conference standings, just half a game ahead of Nevada. In order to secure their spot, the Aggies will have to defeat Colorado State on Tuesday night. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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By Sydney Chapman The ball sailed from his fingers, floating from 20 feet, 10 feet, two feet. It ricocheted off the rim and into the hands of the opposing players.
This happened again. And again. The shots would not fall for Sam Merrill. And he wasn’t the only Aggie struggling from distance on Tuesday night. When the Utah State University men’s basketball team took on San Diego State University in the Spectrum, things got off to a slow start for both teams. But the Aggies found their rhythm before the Aztecs could, and came away with a 70-54 win. “It was just one of those games,” head coach Craig Smith said. “Shooting’s contagious — good and bad.” In the first half, San Diego State held the Aggies to just 9.1 percent on three-pointers and 38.7 percent on field goals. Which is far below the team's normal performance. “They're a long and athletic team,” senior Quinn Taylor said. “They got length at every position so it can bother us at times, but we were able to find a way.” It helped that the Aztecs weren’t much better off, with a field goal percentage of 21.4 in the first half. Redshirt freshman Justin Bean said the Aggies’ defensive strength was key in holding off San Diego State. “For us it all starts on defense,” he said. “This year we've been really good defensively — the top five in the country in defensive field goal percentage. And so we know when we play to our strengths that offensively it'll take care of itself.” In the end, this defensive energy allowed Utah State to come away with a victory over the Aztecs. “We know we're a good shooting team typically, so we know when those aren't falling we have to find another way,” Bean said. “Tonight we did that with our energy and just trusting coach and the game plan and doing what we have to do.” Up next, Utah State will face Nevada on Saturday in the Spectrum. The Wolfpack is currently ranked number one in the Mountain West Conference and 12th in the nation. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. By Sydney Chapman BOISE, Idaho — With 1:57 to go in the second half, Boise State University’s Justinian Jessup jumped up and launched the ball to hit a three-pointer. Fans in every tier of the Taco Bell Arena jumped to their feet and cheered. It was the Broncos’ first lead of the entire game against the Utah State University men’s basketball team.
The deflated Aggies continued to give up baskets until they were in a five point hole with less than a minute left. But this wasn’t enough to make them give up. Utah State went on to force overtime — and used the extra minutes to claim a 78-71 victory that Aggie head coach Craig Smith called “a gut-check win.” The comeback came in the last 25 seconds, with the Aggies down by four, as junior guard Sam Merrill drew three fouls to tie things up and force overtime. “That was crazy,” Merrill said. “With 25 seconds left — you're not gonna win a lot of games like that.” But the forced overtime would give Utah State the momentum it needed to reclaim the lead. “Even though it's tied, momentum is a real thing in athletics,” Smith said. “And it felt like we had some mojo and some momentum and just willed ourselves to that victory.” Merrill said the team’s will and positive mental attitude were key for Utah State to come out with the win, especially after nearly being “dead in the water.” “When things get tough like that, we stay positive,” he said. Merrill’s teammate Abel Porter said tenacity is just part of who the Aggies are as a team. “It's the attitude that we've had — not just this game but it's been an attitude the whole year,” Porter said. “We're going to finish and we're just going to find a way, no matter what happens.” Utah State will have to maintain this will to win on Tuesday as the team faces San Diego State University for the second time. The Aztecs are one of just three conference teams to have beaten the Aggies this season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Spectrum. Neemias Queta manages double-double against New Mexico despite having two rebounds in second half2/23/2019 By Sydney Chapman Neemias Queta caught the ball inside, turned and shot it for two easy points.
“Let’s go!” he said to the cheering crowd while running back on defense. Queta then rebounded the ball off of the University of New Mexico’s backboard and passed it out to his teammate. Then he made another basket. And another. All while pulling down rebounds on both sides of the court. By halftime, the 6-foot-11 center lead the Utah State University men’s basketball team with 15 points and was just two rebounds shy of recording his eighth double-double of the season. “He just took care of business down there for sure,” Aggie guard Diogo Brito said. But when Queta came back out for the second half, things were more quiet off the glass. The freshman barely picked up the last two rebounds he needed for the double-double. In total, he finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to help the Aggies in their 71-55 victory over the Runnin’ Rebels. Recording most of his stats in only one half seems to have become a pattern for Queta in the past few games. But according to head coach Craig Smith, this isn’t so unusual. “When you're dealing with younger guys and inexperienced guys it's kind of a natural thing,” Smith said. “There's just ups and downs and you go in grooves and then you lose concentration.” Queta may only be a true-freshman but this hasn’t stopped him from leading the team in rebounds and becoming one of the Aggies’ leading scorers this season. Going into Wednesday night’s game, the 6-foot-11 center was averaging over 11 points and 9 rebounds a game. Smith said these contributions make it easy to see why people’s expectations of Queta have been set so high. “Sometimes as a fan or people you forget that they're not machines. Like these guys are young men,” he said. But despite all this, Smith remained hopeful about Queta’s future. “The sky's the limit for him,” he said. “He's got great feel for the game and he's super competitive. He loves to play, he loves to get better, he wants to get better.” Up next, Queta and the Aggies will take on Boise State University this Saturday in the Taco Bell Arena at 2 p.m. By Sydney Chapman Senior Quinn Taylor hasn’t had a double-double since Nov. 16 when the Utah State University men’s basketball team played Utah Valley University.
That is, until tonight’s game against the University of Wyoming — Taylor had 13 points and 10 rebounds against the Cowboys, allowing him to finally smash the statistical wall which has kept him from recording a double-double for 20 games. But according to Taylor, there’s a more important number which lies within the double-double. “I kind of grade myself on my effort based on the offensive rebounds,” he said. “That's the stat that matters to me.” But even when measuring performance by offensive boards, the stat book still stood in Taylor’s favor. The senior grabbed a season high of six offensive rebounds against the Cowboys. “What is offensive rebounding?...it's effort,” head coach Craig Smith said. “I thought Quinn was really good on the glass.” The effort Taylor displayed on the court translated into several extra possessions for the Aggies, which helped them to secure the 76-59 victory over Wyoming. USU will look to extend its win streak as the team travels to Colorado to take on Air Force this Saturday at 2 p.m. By Sydney Chapman The Utah State University men’s basketball team knew going into Saturday’s game if it wanted to defeat the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, it would have to limit the Runnin’ Rebels' offensive rebounds.
And considering UNLV is number two in the nation for offensive rebounds, averaging 15 per game, out-rebounding the Rebels wasn’t an easy job — but it’s exactly what the Aggies did. “I just thought we did a great job defensively,” head coach Craig Smith said. By limiting UNLV’s second chances, the Aggies were able to defeat the Rebels with a final score of 82-65. According to junior guard Diogo Brito, the Aggies’ emphasis on rebounding during practice helped them to hold UNLV to 23 total rebounds for the game — only nine of which were offensive. “It's really about making sure your guy doesn't get the rebound,” Brito said. “And if he doesn't go to the boards, then try to help the Bigs.” Brito pulled down five of USU’s 44 rebounds. Other key contributors to USU’s rebounding stat were Quinn Taylor who had six and Neemias Queta with 16. The Aggies will look to continue to their aggressiveness on the boards at Fresno State University this Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. MT. By Sydney Chapman LOGAN — All season long, The Utah State University men’s basketball team has said that winning is a team effort.
On Wednesday night against San Jose State University, the Aggies proved all of their talk of team wasn’t just an act. In a 103-73 victory over the Spartans, all 11 of the Aggies who suited up for the game logged playing time and scored. The only three players who didn't check into the game were unable to play due to illness or injury. “That's what we're about,” junior guard Sam Merrill said. “We understand that there's not one guy on this team that's going to be able to carry us to where we want to go.” Even freshman Alek Johnson went into the game and hit a three to record the first points of his college career. “Those are big moments,” Merrill said. “People maybe won’t recognize it but I think when you see how excited we are... I think that shows a lot about who we are as a team and the type of chemistry we have.” Having multiple players score wasn’t the only thing which proved Utah State’s team mentality. The total number of assists they had also highlighted their ability to work together. “Offensively I thought we were really grooving, just really passing the ball,” Smith said. “I mean 28 assists to eight turnovers really stands out.” Assists made by players in the paint out to their teammates on the perimeter helped USU sink 11 three-pointers. “It's fun to see,” Smith said. “Tonight we just really wanted to get guys in there, get going and I thought it helped us in transition — keeping guys fresh and just really being on attack.” Smith said he was happy with the “great team effort” his players gave throughout the game. The Aggies will return to the Spectrum on Saturday to take on UNLV at 2:30 p.m. By Sydney Chapman On Saturday, the Utah State University men’s basketball team descended into the depths of The Pit to take on the University of New Mexico — and its notoriously rowdy fans. The Aggies emerged from the hostile environment a few hours later with a win over both parties.
Going into the game, the team knew that gaining a victory wouldn’t be easy, even given New Mexico’s 9-10 record. “It's going to be a tough test for us,” junior guard Sam Merrill said. “It's hard to win in their place. They have a really good home court advantage.” Dreamstyle Arena — often referred to as “The Pit” — is known for being “a mile high and louder than hell.” The slogan was coined to describe the deafening sounds of the faithful Lobo fan base that attend the games there. “It's definitely one of the craziest places I've played at,” Merrill said. “They're very passionate and very loud. Their players feed off of it.” Senior Quinn Taylor said the crowd got particularly loud in the second half. But that all changed when Abel Porter hit a game-winning three for the Aggies with 1.8 seconds left. “They got really quiet, really quick... I mean we were going crazy but the fans and atmosphere — just everything left,” Taylor said. It was the Aggies’ first win in The Pit since February 2015 and Taylor’s first win at New Mexico in his four years at Utah State. “It was a great game,” Taylor said, “a game that's going to prepare us for down later in conference, conference tournament and post-season.” The Aggies will return to their own rowdy crowd for Wednesday night’s game in the Spectrum against San Jose State University. By Sydney Chapman After struggling through the first half of Wednesday night's game against San Jose State University, Neemias Queta knew his team couldn’t afford another slow start.
So in the first three minutes of play against Colorado State University on Saturday, the freshman center stole the ball on an inbound pass and went coast-to-coast for a slam dunk. “It has been a focus for us... to start strong,” Queta said. “I was just trying to score and when I jumped, I felt like I could dunk... and I dunked it.” The play gave the Utah State University men’s basketball team the momentum it needed to control CSU for the rest of the night. According to Queta, it also motivated him to perform well the entire game. “I mean everybody wants to score the first ball," he said. "I think it helps me a lot when I get the ball and score the first one." Queta would go on to record his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. After the game, he jokingly referred to himself as “Giannis Queta” — a n allusion to Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. “Neemias is a competitor,” said USU head coach Craig Smith. “He really anchored us. I thought he was really, really good, especially early on.” The strong start that Queta sparked allowed the Aggies to lead the Rams wire-to-wire, coming away with a final score of 87-72. By Sydney Chapman After a last-second loss to Fresno State University on Wednesday night, the Utah State University men’s basketball team was looking for a silver lining — and it might have found one in sophomore guard Abel Porter.
Porter came off the bench to play 26 minutes, in which he recorded a career high of 14 points. His previous best was seven. Porter was one of five Utah State players who scored in double figures and the only man off the bench to do so. He said the key to his point production was being more aggressive. “I think it's just the mindset," Porter said. "Coach Smith was preaching about being in attack mode the whole week." That attack mode seemed to kick in during the second half when Porter scored 10 of his 14 points. The baskets he made helped the Aggies stay ahead for the majority of the game, with Fresno trailing close behind. “I just go into every game with the same mentality," he said, "Whatever the flow of the game dictates, I'll be ready to do." By the end of the night, he had two three-pointers and one field goal. Porter also went 6-for-9 from the free throw line — something he said he hopes to improve on in the future. According to head coach Craig Smith, Porter has been showing steady improvement all season, along with other bench players. “With all of our practice time I’ve been thinking ‘Why are we not playing Abel Porter more?’” Smith said. “Every day in practice… you just really notice those guys and I think they’re going to be able to help us as we go forward.” |
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March 2019
CategoriesAbout SydneySydney Chapman is a journalism student at Utah State University. A former intern at Deseret News and avid sports fan, Chapman has experience covering professional sporting events and writing on trending topics. She uses this website to report on the Utah State University men's basketball team. |