Aggie Men’s Hoops Dominate San Jose State in Conference Opener
It was the Aggies all the way in Utah State’s conference opener Monday night in the Spectrum, as the men’s hoops team dominated the San Jose State Spartans from start to finish, winning the game 107 to 62.
“I thought we came in with the right mindset today,” said junior forward Justin Bean ― who finished the game with his third double-double of the season. “Starting out conference play you always want to come out with a win and come out with an edge and I thought we did that tonight. We shared the ball, and played the most connected we have all year.”
It was an all-around team effort, as every Aggie that dressed got in the game, with 12 players scoring. Bean led the way, with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Brock Miller had the hot hand, scoring 14 points off of 5-9 shooting. Junior guard Marco Anthony had 12 points, freshman guard Steven Ashworth had ten, freshman guard Rollie Wooster had six points and seven assists, and the Aggie bench scored a season-high 51 points.
“Some really good performances all the way up and down the lineup,” said Aggie head coach Craig Smith. “I’m not sure I could say that one guy was really bad, so it’s exciting to see.”
“I think it just showed how talented we are,” Bean said about the whole team getting minutes. “It shows how deep our bench can be, everyone was ready from the get-go.”
107 points were the most the Aggies have scored this year by a large margin. For an offense that has struggled with consistency this season, things appeared to come easy tonight. USU out-rebounded the Spartans 59-36, including 20 offensive rebounds that turned into 27-second chance points. The Aggies also hit a season-high 11 threes on the night, on 31 attempted. They shot 43-83 from the field, the efficient shooting thanks to 52 points in the paint. The easy looks at the hoop were largely accredited to excellent ball movement, as the team has a season-best 27 assists.
“We just played really connected and that’s been a big focal point for us,” said Smith. Our style I think is a really enjoyable style to play, I think it’s fun to watch but it takes a little time to figure things out too. Basketball is played differently all over the world ― and we have a lot of guys from all over the world so it takes some time to figure this thing out.
Defensively USU played stout, holding SJSU to 38 points in the first 30 minutes of the game before Smith pulled the starters. The Aggies forced 13 turnovers, had six blocks, and held the Spartans to just 23-70 from the field, good for 32.9 percent. Senior guard Richard Washington would lead the way for SJSU with 20 points.
The defensive highlight was the first five minutes of the second half, where USU held the visitors scoreless ― including three turnovers ― which translated into six Neemias Queta points on the other end, sparking a 19-0 run to turn the game from a lopsided lead into a total demolition.
“We came out of the locker room in the second half, I think we had ten straight stops,” said Smith.
It was a game chock-full of exciting plays for the Aggies. With 8:52 left in the first half, Queta threw up a lob to Anthony for a dunk, who slammed it home. The 6-5 guard also had a slam over a Spartan defender with 12 seconds left in the half.
In the second half, Wooster had a cross-court pass to Queta for the jam with 18:13 left. At the 9:07 mark, Freshman center Szymon Zapala muscled an offensive rebound over three Spartan defenders, spun, and slammed it home.
It is a nice victory for the Aggies, but it’s a quick turnaround, as they take on San Jose State once again on Wednesday.
It’s a great way to start the (conference) season,” said Smith. “And it’ll be different, we gotta turn around and bounce back very quickly on Wednesday against the same opponent.”