Men’s hoops looking for bounce-back win at home
Following a loss to Arizona State in the championship game of the MGM Resorts Main Event, Utah State is hoping for a bounce-back win over Northern Iowa at home in the Spectrum.
Last Wednesday’s loss was the first of the season for the Aggies. However, the team’s 5-1 start is still the best the team has had since 2013-14 (also 5-1). Head coach Craig Smith said USU played well but fell short in some areas.
“We defended very hard, but we fouled too much. They shot 43 free throws,” Smith said. “Offensively, we didn’t turn the ball over the first 13 minutes of the game and we turned it over (17) times over the last 27 minutes…we gave a lot of freebies away.”
When asked about the Aggies’ opponent, Smith gave no indication of underestimating the 3-3 Panthers, whom he faced as an assistant with Colorado State.
“The one thing I know is in order to beat these guys, you have to beat them. They’ve had a ton of close games. Every game they’ve been in has been tight,” Smith said. “They are this close to being 6-0 coming into our game. That is a fine line at our level when it comes to winning and losing.”
A surprise so far for Northern Iowa has been the play of freshman A.J. Green. The 6-foot-4 guard ranks in the top five of the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring with 18.3 points per game. He also leads the conference in 3-point field goal attempts (44) and free throw percentage (90.5) on 3.5 attempts per game.
A major key on Utah State’s side will be Neemias Queta. The true freshman torched Saint Mary’s last Monday to the tune of 24 points, nine rebounds and five blocks but played just 21 minutes against Arizona State due to foul trouble. Queta finished with five points and nine rebounds, though he also had five turnovers and fouled with just over two minutes to play.
Arizona State wasn’t the first time the Portuguese native has been in foul trouble. Queta has committed at least three fouls in ever game and four in two other games outside of the matchup with the Sun Devils.
“People forget though, he’s a true freshman,” Smith said. “He doesn’t look like a true freshman, but there are times, very rarely, that he plays like a true freshman, but his fouls are freshman fouls. Where he is just a half step behind or out of position. Or, he has a youthful exuberance where he thinks he can get every rebound.”
Despite getting into trouble too early in half of Utah State’s games this year, Smith said “we need him on the floor,” specifically in regard to defense which has been a point of emphasis for the first-year head coach.
“At some point we have just played him so he can be on the floor and so he can get the reps to do it,” Smith said. “His blocked shots speak for themselves, but if they kept a stat on altered shots, that would probably double that. When you have a rim protector like him, he can cover up some mistakes that our other guys might make. But he also allows us to do some things schematically to help our overall defense because we’ve got him sitting at the rim protecting.”
This will be the Utah State’s fourth home game of the season. The Aggies are 3-0 in the confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum so far this season, winning games by an average of 27 points. USU and NIU will tip off at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum.