Can Utah State continue its magical run against New Mexico?

Utah State is in uncharted territory now.

With victories over Colorado State and Boise State, the team now finds themselves in the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament for the first time in school history, where they will face off versus New Mexico for a spot in the conference final. Toppling New Mexico is a daunting task, but so was defeating the Broncos. The Aggies can continue their magical run against the Lobos, and this is how.

Utah State and New Mexico have met twice already this season, with the teams splitting the two games. USU won 89-80 in Logan while the Lobos retaliated with a 78-63 win in Albuquerque. Several distinct differences exist between the two games which explain the two outcomes.

The first and most obvious is turnovers. New Mexico is a press-style team, meaning they remain in a full court press defense for much of the game. In Logan, the Aggies responded to the pressure well, committing only 13 turnovers in the game. In Albuquerque, however, USU struggled mightily against the press en route to committing a season-high 23 turnovers. The Lobos capitalized, scoring 23 points off of those turnovers.

For Utah State to advance to their first ever MW conference final, that amount of turnovers cannot happen. The key to avoiding that fate rests on the team’s motion offense remaining crisp despite the pressure. In USU’s loss to New Mexico, only Koby McEwen and Sam Merrill tallied three or more assists in the game. All other Aggie players combined for only another four. Against a pressure-based defense, opportunities can be plentiful if players make the correct decisions and attack openings. Those situations should abound on Friday night when the Aggies face off with the Lobos.

There are 40 minutes separating Utah State from a berth in the MW conference final, and as we saw on Thursday night versus Boise State, those 40 minutes can contain a whole mess of chaos. But if the Aggies can avoid turnovers and continue their excellent offensive execution in recent outings, we very well could see Utah State playing for their first conference title in seven years.