“Pressure is a Privilege” — USU is Ready For Massive Series Against Boise State

Fair or not, the verdict on whether Utah State is “good enough” to earn an at-large bid in the tournament this year largely weighs upon how they perform against other teams which also hold realistic at-large bid aspirations.

Thus, the stakes are high on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and Friday, Feb. 19, when the league-leading Aggies (12-2 in conference) travel up to Idaho to take on third-place Boise State (10-3 in conference), in a two-game series with serious Mountain West title implications and an opportunity for the Aggies to secure one or two “quad one” victories.

“It’s very exciting,” said junior forward Justin Bean. “We’re ready for the challenge.”

Due to pandemic-related cancelations of three straight games, the Aggies will enter Wednesday’s duel not having played since February 4, nearly a two week break from action. Boise St. has played four games since USU last took the court, losing twice in Reno against Nevada and winning twice at home against UNLV.

But in a season where everyone’s been affected by COVID-19, there are no excuses. USU needs to be ready to play. In an attempt to replicate competition, the Aggies scrimmaged five-on-five in practice last week, a seldom occurrence during the season.

“We’re just really trying to get our minds right and our bodies right,” Bean said. “We’re just making sure we’re simulating an in-game situation as much as we can having all this time off so we definitely don’t want to come in flat against Boise.”

The pre-season favorite to win the conference and the No. 38 team in the NCAA net rankings, Boise State is certainly a formidable foe. They boast the second-most efficient offense in the Mountain West (112.8 points per possession) and the third-most efficient defense (94.0 points per possession.) They have two “quad one” victories on the season — wins over BYU and Colorado State.

The offense is led by 6-foot-9 senior Derrick Alston Jr. The lanky NBA prospect averages 17.0 points per game and has an offensive rating of 115.2, the highest in the conference for players with a minimum usage rate of 20 percent. He hits a lethal 43 percent of threes he attempts and scores at the hoop with ease, making himself a late-season front-runner to win Mountain West player of the year.

Last season, Bean, the now-graduated Diogo Brito and current junior Brock Miller all spent time defending Alston with reasonable success, holding him to 24 points in two games. But this year Alston’s even better. Nobody on the Aggies has both the speed and size to match up perfectly with Alston. Expect the assignment to fall on 6-foot-5 junior guard Marco Anthony.

Other major scoring threats include senior forward Abu Kigab, a transfer from Oregon that adds 12.8 points per game, and junior guard Marcus Shaver Jr. who averages 11.6 points per game and shoots 42 percent from beyond the arc. Expect to see Bean matched up against Kigab, and Miller or freshman Rollie Worster tasked with guarding Shaver.

As is the goal every game, USU will want to keep the Bronco guards in check in the open court and funnel any of their penetration toward Neemias Queta in the paint. Boise State’s best opportunity to score effectively on the Aggies will be to shoot a high volume of three-pointers and hit them.

“They are very efficient offensively, they drive the ball really hard really well which creates separation and then they got some shooters that can knock down shots,” Bean said. “Obviously having Neemias down low he’s a load for anyone who’s going up against him so it’s great to have him down there. We just have to really guard the 3 point line.”

Utah State has proven they can win games solely with an uber-efficient defensive performance — they held San Diego State, the most efficient offense in the conference, to 45 and 59 points in two games — but facing the best backcourt in the league on the road at the end of the season, they’ll need to score points.

The most obvious advantage the Aggies have offensively is the matchup between Neemais Queta and 6-foot-10 junior Mladen Armus. Queta’s length and athleticism outweighs that of his Serbian counterpart, and if he collects the ball on the low block and isn’t immediately double-teamed, he’ll get a bucket.

So the key is to do what has been effective all season: Feed the ball to Queta. He can score, or, if they double-team him, somebody will be open. Playing inside-out in the half-court offense could be the goal.

They also need to take better care of the basketball — the Aggies average 14.1 turnovers per game. Turnovers fueled losses against Colorado State and UNLV. The offense needs to mitigate mistakes to avoid easy points on the other end. Bean understands this.

“We’re going to approach the game the same and that’s doing what we can to eliminate loss,” he said. “Take care of the ball and be aggressive and be the toughest team, so those are things we control, and when we do those things we can leave knowing we’ve done our best and hope that’s with a win.”

This is what it’s all about. Playing meaningful games in February — and winning those games — is how you get to play meaningful games in March. Coach Smith has a motto he tells his team before big games: “Pressure is a privilege.”

When the stakes are high, it’s a privilege to put yourself up against the best, to see if you’re good enough.

@jacobnielson12

—sports@usustatesman.com