Protectors of Cache Valley: A look at USU men’s hoops’ elite defense
Northern Utah’s Cache Valley has long been a place known for its defense.
It received its name thanks to the mountain men in the early 1800s who would “cache” their furs and pelts on river banks in the valley, defending them from wildlife and other trappers. When the first Latter-Day Saint settlers arrived in the valley in 1856, they established Maughans Fort, a community built to defend themselves from native Americans and the turbulent winters. In the early 1900s when the legendary three-toed grizzly “Old Ephraim” paraded around the valley’s nearby hills eating livestock, local farmers gathered up their arms, and in efforts to defend their livestock, killed the bear. And during world war two, Utah State University became known as the “West Point of the west,” because soldiers lived on campus and drilled on the quad in preparation to defend their country.
Present-day, 2021, Cache Valley is once again becoming known for its defense, involving something much more subordinate yet equally compelling: The Utah State men’s basketball team.
The Aggies are currently 12-4 (9-1 in conference) through the first two months of the season and have found much of their success thanks to their defensive production. They’re holding opponents to 61.25 points per game, and have a defensive efficiency of 86.1 points per 100 possession, which ranks No. 6 in the nation. Adjusting this stat to account for competition, that number goes up to 90.3, which is still No. 9 in the country.
In conference play the defense has been even better, holding opponents to 55.8 points per game and posting an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 79.0, which is No. 1 in the Mountain West by a wide margin.
“We’ve guarded really well, our guys have really bought in,” said Utah State head coach Craig Smith. “We’re playing very connected on that end of the floor.”
One key to the team’s success is the pride and effort it shows in guarding the hoop on a regular basis. It’s as if the Aggies still have a cache of beaver pelts sitting in the basket and they’re doing everything in their power to prevent the opposition from getting the ball into it.
The primary safeguarder of the hoop is junior center Neemias Queta, a 6-foot-11 friendly giant from Portugal that instills this defensive mentality into the team.
“That’s just like our identity,” he said.
Half-way through his third season, the two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year has been intimidating rival offenses for what feels like ages. But with 73 collegiate games of experience and seemingly zero lasting effects of a knee injury that ailed him last season, Queta has brought his play to a whole new level.
“Queta really anchors us,” Smith said. “I mean he’s an elite defender. The range that he has and his ability to run the floor, to defend screen and roll, to guard in the post and then just protect the paint is a high high level.”
The first thing he does is neutralize the opposing team’s centers. He shut down arguably the most talented centers he’s had to guard this season, holding BYU’s 7-foot-3 Matt Haarms to eight points and two rebounds and SDSU’s 6-foot-11 Nathan Mensah to a combined 16 points and 14 rebounds in two games.
The second thing he does — and perhaps the most valuable — is his ability to wreak havoc on anyone else that comes into the lane. Boasting a 7-foot-4 wingspan and tremendous instincts and athleticism, Queta has blocked 13.33 percent of opponents’ attempted two-point shots this season while he’s on the floor, which is No.7 in the nation. Being USU’s all-time block shot leader, he averages 2.81 per game, No. 14 in the nation. When a mid-range shot or layup isn’t blocked, Queta still alters the timing and difficulty of the shot, often resulting in a miss. As a team, Utah State is holding opponents to a 42.7 field goal percentage from two-point range, No. 10 in the nation.
New Mexico head coach Paul Weir said his team got “Neemias Queta demons” after trying to shoot over him two straight games.
But the Aggie defense is certainly no one-man show. Everyone in the regular rotation knows how to defend.
“We have strong physical players up and down the lineup regardless of position,” Smith said. “Trevin Dorius is a legitimate 7-foot-1 and he’s a phenomenal athlete…you got Justin Bean out there and Alphonso Anderson. Brock Miller has taken his game to a whole other level defensively, Marco (Anthony) is a big strong physical guard, our Freshmen (Rollie) Worster and (Steven) Ashworth have figured some things out, and (Sean) Bairstow is 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8.”
Sounds like guys you’d want to protect a fort. Or a basket of furs.
Junior forward Bean is 6-foot-7, 210 pounds, and has the mobility and toughness to guard a variety of players. In the Colorado State game alone, he switched off between guarding 212 pounds, 6-foot-6 junior Adam Thistlewood, a versatile forward that shoots 71 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, and 6-foot-5, 252 pound David Roddy, the Rams leading scorer who shoots 68 percent of shots from inside the paint. Bean kept Roddy at bay with 24 points in two games, but Bean is also an elite rebounder, helping the Aggies collect 80.2 percent of potential defensive rebounds, No. 6 in the nation.
The guards have been great as well. In the opening games of the season, rookie Ashworth appeared lost defensively at times, falling for back cuts and getting beat off the dribble. But utilizing his speed and scrappiness, he has proved effective. In the Jan. 16 game against SDSU, he was tasked with guarding speed-demon Terrell Gomez, who, in an attempt to replace the production of injured Matt Mitchell, was getting run off Aztec screens like he was “Ray Allen,” according to Smith. Ashworth managed to bust through the screens and keep pace, limiting Gomez to 5 of 13 from the field and zero made field goals in the final 12 minutes.
Also against SDSU, Miller’s defensive ability was on full display, staying stride-for-stride with the Aztec’s second-leading scorer, 6-foot-6 guard Jordan Schakel, holding him to a combined 19 points on 8 of 19 shooting in two games. Last season, Miller would get subbed out of the game due to his lapses defensively, but this season, he’s been pivotal for the protection efforts.
“My mindset is just to do the best that I can to make them feel me all night long,” Miller said.
Junior guard Anthony is often tasked with guarding opponents’ best shooters, whether that be Northern Iowa’s AJ Green or Colorado State’s Isiah Stevens, and has kept them at or below their averages.
Essentially, everyone on the court has the ability to fulfill their assignment, which reduces the need to help, which keeps the defense from breaking down. With everybody doing their part, it creates a trust and connection that knits the team together, like soldiers drilling on the quad.
“We’re all just really connected,” said Miller. “We do a great job just pulling each other’s strings, talking, and making sure we’re in the right spots.”
Now things haven’t been flawless. The Aggies gave up 84 points against Colorado State on Jan. 21. That game provided a recipe for teams to use against USU. Be aggressive, get Queta in foul trouble, make it to the free-throw line, move the ball, and hope your contested shots go in.
Let it be a lesson — can’t let up against anybody. Junior forward Anderson said the team wasn’t prepared mentally and vowed to do better: “Every night we gotta come out and bring it.”
But looking at the season as a whole, the victories and the numbers speak for themselves. If the Aggies can continue what they started defensively, they can etch themselves in Cache Valley’s history books.
“Hopefully we can keep it going,” Miller said. “It’s something that you got to do every night and you gotta have great energy and toughness to do that.”
@jacobnielson12
—sports@usustatesman.com