Aggies head to Boise for lone season matchup with Broncos
Saturday afternoon the Utah State men’s basketball team will play its lone game of the season against Boise State, a team the Aggies haven’t beaten on the road in three-straight matchups.
Utah State is once again in control of its fate in the conference with Fresno State and Nevada both losing on Wednesday night, reclaiming sole possession of second place. This means however, with just four games left, winning out becomes almost a necessity to stay in the hunt for the top spot in the Mountain West.
“We feel like we’ve put ourselves in a good position to possibly have an at-large bid,” said USU junior guard Sam Merrill. “But we understand that with where we’re at, there’s no room for errors. So we’re definitely excited to see that we still have a chance to maybe come out first in the league, but we’re just focused on Boise right now. We know that if we don’t win there all that goes away, so we’re just focused on that.”
Boise State has been a bit inconsistent throughout the season. The Broncos have a great win on its resume against a formidable San Diego State squad, an 88-64 thumping to be exact. But that’s one of just six conference total for the team. The other five wins for the Broncos have all come against teams in the bottom four of the Mountain West. However, Boise State still poses a challenge to the Aggies because of the level of defense the team has played at this season.
“I saw a stat where they’re 1-6 in one-possession games, so I don’t think their record is remotely indicative of the type of talent and the type of team that they have,” said USU head coach Craig Smith. “They lose on a last-second shot to Nevada at home, they played San Diego State very, very tough, and Fresno State they were ahead with less than a minute to go at their place.”
While the Broncos’ offensive output ranks in the bottom four in conference, its defensive numbers are quite the opposite. Boise State ranks fourth in opponents’ scoring average and fifth in opponents’ field goal percentage. One area of the game that Utah State may look to exploit is rebounding. The Aggies pull down the 18th most rebounds per game in the country, while Boise State is second to last in the conference, a full eight rebounds per game fewer than Utah State.
“They’re a good team, they defend really well,” Merrill said. “They’re a top seventy in scoring defense and the last two years, at least since I’ve been up there, both games have gone down to the wire and we haven’t been able to come away with a win.”
Boise State might have one trick up its sleeve, in the form of former Utah State head coach Tim Dureya. After spending the past three years as head coach of the Aggies, Duryea now works as an assistant coach for the Broncos.
“He coached and recruited a lot of our guys, so he should have a pretty good feel for what they like, what they don’t like, all those kinds of things,” Smith said.
But at the same time, this means the Aggies will be familiar with what Dureya likes to do as well.
“It’s two-fold. They do some things like we do, but there is some familiarity,” Smith said. “Coach Duryea is their offensive coordinator, so a lot of the stuff they run, the guys in our program ran last year. So they have a feel for what’s coming.”
Over the past three games, the Aggies have been able to find a way to win in a few different ways, even when the team isn’t at its best. In both the New Mexico and Wyoming games, Utah State had terrific second halves, out-scoring its opponents by a combined margin of 78 to 45.
The bench for the Aggies has had an important impact over the past three games in being able to pull out those victories. Junior guard Diogo Brito is one of those bench players who has contributed heavily during that span of games. Brito has been averaging 10 points, seven rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game over the past three.
Two of Utah State’s top players this season, Merrill and freshman center Neemias Queta, have continued playing well throughout the tail end of conference play. But while they may be playing well, keeping focused and not getting ahead of themselves is still the only thing on their minds.
“Fortunately we have something to play for still,” Merrill said. “You know we have our end goal in mind, and just you know after last night with Nevada losing we have a chance to at least have a share of the league title. We understand that every game is vital both to win the league and for NCAA tournament purposes, so we’re just focused on taking it one game at a time and doing what we do normally.”
Twitter: @dren_sports