MBB Preview: USU needs to ‘be ready to execute’ against New Mexico

LAS VEGAS — Utah State Men’s Basketball faces New Mexico in the quarter-final round of the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship tonight.

Before the first-round game that determined the Aggies’ opponent, USU head coach Ryan Odom said no matter who they would end up facing “it’s going to be a challenge.” The Lobos ended up winning with a big second half offensively, knocking Wyoming out of the tournament 87-76. 

Meanwhile, the Aggies have prepared this week with practices focused on their “vitamins,” which has included working on what they do in certain situations at the end of games. He referenced how important those were for Colorado State and UNLV in their close wins in the first round. 

“It’s part of tournament play,” Odom said. “You’ve got to be ready to execute on a neutral floor. And so we’ve been working on our shooting, we’ve been working on our offense and we’re working on defensively how we play.” 

The Aggies have also been balancing their schedule to not overwork their players but also keep them focused in Sin City. 

“Our guys understand why they’re here,” Odoms said. “We certainly want them to have fun… We’ve been able to kind of focus on our work, but also, they’ve had some free time to hang out with their teammates and family.” 

Earlier this season, USU beat New Mexico 84-73 on Feb. 1. During that game, the Aggies took the Lobos out of it in the first half outscoring New Mexico 46-27. That and turnovers are what UNM players remembered when talking about facing Utah State.

“I feel like just as a team, (we) kind of got into a slow start,” Lobo forward Morris Udeze said. “We’re going to look to just play hard on defense just like we did the second half (against Wyoming).”

UNM forward Josiah Allick agreed with his teammate. 

“We really shot ourselves in the foot the first half,” Allick said. “Plenty of turnovers against a defense that doesn’t really pressure, and obviously, just not making shots or playing our defense that we usually do. So, I mean, that’s the key. No stupid turnovers and fly around on defense like we showed tonight.” 

New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino called Utah State “really good,”

“They’ve got guys that have been there a long time, and they’re old and they share the basketball, and coach Odom just offensively puts them in great spots,” Pitino said. “Just keep our composure and defend because they’re dynamic offensively.”

 Pitino also placed some of the blame for the Lobos’ loss on the atmosphere inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. 

 “I’ve got a lot of respect for them,” Pitino said. “I think the biggest thing for us — get some rest tonight. We’ll watch a lot of film, put together the best game plan that we can do, but some of it too is that’s a hard place to play. You have to give those fans credit. They’re really — they’re on top of you, and we didn’t handle it well.” 

Overall, Utah State has won the last five games they’ve played against New Mexico and eight of the last 10. 

The Lobos are led by guards Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House. The two combined for 50 against Wyoming on Wednesday night. Mashburn was the conference’s leading scorer in the regular season averaging 19.5 points per game this season. House was right behind him with 16.8 points per game this year. 

Odom talked about their ability to play off of each other with Mashburn the primary scorer and House harassing teams on defense. 

“You start with House and Mashburn, two of the best guards in our league,” Odom said. “One has the ability to score off the bounce, the other is just dynamite in transition and really a defensive nightmare for his opponents.”

The guards are balanced in the frontcourt by Allick and Udeze. They combined for 27 points and 17 rebounds against the Cowboys. 

“They’ve really done well with their guys up front,” Odom said. “Udeze is a matchup problem  inside and Allick really plays a primary role for them in terms of his rebounding and defensive ability.” 

Another thing to consider is the impact of the Lobos playing a first-round game. 

“It’s just a matter of us settling into the game and whoever we play is gonna be coming off of a high because they will have just won a game and we haven’t played yet,” Odom said. “That part of it is a little bit different for us because we’re not into it, we haven’t been out there on the court yet while this other team has just played.” 

Utah State-New Mexico tips off at 9:30 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.

Featured image by Heidi Bingham.