Miller’s career night fuels No. 17 USU’s blowout of Denver
For the third time in as many games, Utah State won at home, rolling past Denver 97-56 in a dominant showing from the No. 17 team in the country.
There really wasn’t an area of the game where the Aggies (3-0) didn’t control completely. From rebounding (50 to 25) to shooting (47.8 percent to 38.9 percent) and everything in between, Denver simply proved no match for its hosts.
Utah State didn’t waste a moment of the game, scoring eight points in less than two minutes for an 8-3 lead. Before 10 minutes had gone by USU had gone on separate runs of 7-0,10-0 and 11-0. All of those factored into a 31-7 lead midway through the first half.
“We came out really strong and that’s what we talked about before the game,” Aggies’ senior guard Diogo Brito said. “Come out strong, punch them in the mouth right away and I think we did a great job throughout the first 15 minutes of the first half.”
A major factor in those runs and the enormous lead was a jump in 3-point shooting from the Aggies. In their first two games, the team shot just 34.3 percent, good for 158th in the country. That percentage got a shot in the arm Tuesday as USU went 9-of-18 in the first half from deep and 14-of-30 overall on the night. The 14 made threes are tied for second-most for a single game in program history.
“You want to be able to score at all three levels where you shoot the three, be able to score in the midrange and in the paint,” USU head coach Craig Smith said. “Shooting can be contagious at times and tonight we got off to a really good start obviously and just kind of kept going from there. It was nice to see.”
Brock Miller, Sam Merrill and Brito were the driving force behind the lights-out shooting. The trio accounted for eight of the team’s nine first-half triples and 12 of the final 14. Miller had himself a night, setting four new career highs in points (27), field goals made (10), field goals attempted (19), 3-pointers made (seven) and 3-pointers attempted (15).
The career-best 27 broke Miller’s previous best of 26 set almost a year ago to the day on Nov. 13, 2018, against Mississippi Valley State.
“Brock’s not afraid to rise and fire,” Smith said. “He just did a really good job of letting the game come to him….I thought he was a lot more patient tonight and let the game come to him and he made it happen.”
Miller only attempted 18 combined shots in the first two games of the season. He said there wasn’t really a change in mentality or approach from those games to Tuesday.
“I just saw myself get open more,” Miller said. “I got open looks so that’s what I’m here to do is take open looks when I get them. Credit to my teammates (they) really did find me whether it was in transition or just in our motion offense.”
Miller wasn’t the only one with a career night. Sophomore forward Justin Bean recorded 15 rebounds, tying his total against New Mexico last year in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. On the season Bean is now averaging 11.3 rebounds. If Bean held that average it would rank 15th all-time, tied with Mike Santos (1976-77).
Bean’s four offensive rebounds contributed to 17 overall for Utah State. It emphasized the rebounding differential from a big Utah State team that is now outrebounding its foes by an average of 14 boards per night (123-81 in total).
“It’s something we certainly emphasize but we’re big,” Smith said. “We’ve got a big team and we’ve got some guys that can go get the ball and that’s one through five. So being able to hold a team to one (shot) and out is huge.”
The defense starred once again Tuesday, shutting down Denver inside and out. The Pioneers came into the game shooting 42.4 percent on 3-pointers but made a mere 25 percent (4-of-16) against the Aggies. Taking away a team’s outside shooting was one area Utah State struggled in for the first two games of the season. Entering the night, USU ranked 234th in opponent’s 3-point percentage.
According to Brito, the team didn’t put any extra emphasis on defending 3-pointers but rather focused on defending the whole floor using the game against Montana State as an example of how not to defend.
“We knew we didn’t do a very good job against Montana State,” Brito said. “It was actually very poor and we knew we had to change that mindset, bring that defensive mindset that we need on this team.”
With the 41-point victory Tuesday and a 55-point win over Weber State on Friday, the Aggies posted back-to-back 40-point victories for the first time since 1944-45 and just the fourth time in team history. It’s the only time USU has had consecutive 40-point wins against two Division I teams.
Next up for Utah State will be the North Carolina A&T Aggies. It will be the fourth consecutive game at home for USU. NC A&T lost its most recent game 90-64 to Western Carolina.
Twitter: @thejwalk67