The winning formula: A look at Utah State men’s basketball

Head coach Craig Smith made a lasting impact on the Utah State men’s basketball team in his first season by having one of the best seasons in program history. But what made his team different than those his predecessors brought out onto the court?  

Defense and rebounding — and being elite at both.

“I think we always look at defensive field goal percentage and rebounding margin. We just pride ourselves on the defensive side,” assistant coach Austin Hansen said. “When you’re a really good defensive team, you can be good every single night. Offense wins games, defense wins championships. And we’re all about cutting down the nets.”

The year prior to Smith’s arrival, Utah State was 83rd in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage, a category the Aggies led the country in this past season. There are a number of other examples of drastic improvement. This past year’s squad was sixth in rebounding margin; now compare that to the year prior when the Aggies were 207th in the nation in that same category. The 2018-19 Aggies held opponents to the 10th lowest field goal percentage in the NCAA. The 2017-18 group was 237th in the country.

So how do coaches teach players to be better rebounders? For the coaches it’s simple: their guys have to want it.  

“Everybody wants to play right? Here’s some non-negotiables once you get out on the court and you’re either going to do it or not,” assistant coach David Ragland said. “Coach has a saying, ‘any excuse is a good excuse if you let it be.’ And everybody can do it. At this level, it’s not a matter of if you can do it, it’s a matter of if you’re going to will yourself to do it.”

The players are aware of how important this aspect of the game is to the team and it’s something they’re hyper-focused on.

Photo by Savy Knapp

“If you don’t play defense, you don’t play for coach Smith,” redshirt freshman guard Brock Miller said. “Since they’ve come in here, you know it helps a lot when they do such a great job in scouting. When you know what’s coming, when you know their plays, when you know their calls, it definitely helps out a lot.”

It’s one thing for the players to buy in, but a team needs to have the right players on the roster as well to effectively run the scheme it wants. Which the Aggies did this past season according to Smith.  

“Of our top two emphases all summer number one: rebounding,” he said. “Obviously getting (freshman center) Neemias Queta in, (senior forward) Quinn Taylor played a lot of four and then you had good size on the wing. So, our personnel really helped as well.”

The Aggies wings contributed more than just size to the game. The four wings the team primarily used throughout the season accounted for 54 percent of scoring and 47 percent of assists, a category Utah State finished top ten in the nation. The ability to get a rebound and get out into transition offense can make a team absolutely lethal — the Golden State Warriors being an example — and having the conference player of the year in junior guard Sam Merrill certainly helps.

“The kid is relentless, he’s just so good. And everyone wants to talk about his offense, and deservedly so, but what people miss the boat on is how good he is defensively,” Smith said. “He guards the other team’s best player most nights on the perimeter and he doesn’t make many mistakes you see him out there taking charges. How many guys like that are willing to do that consistently?”

For Utah State the formula is combining the right players with excellent discipline in the film room. This is something the coaches said they are passionate about and believe sets their program apart from others in high-level college basketball.  

“You gotta let them know — here’s who you’re guarding, here’s their strengths — let’s take away those strengths and make it our advantage,” Ragland said. “If you can find a way to make your strategy second nature for your players, then it just makes it that much easier for them.”

Ragland was also adamant the work the team does off the court carries over onto the court.  

“We do skill work every single day. So being able to see those guys be more confident and improve their game as the season went on was impressive,” he said.

Impressive and almost unprecedented. And the team has the stats to back it up. This is according to one of the leading basketball analytic websites: Kenpom.

“Kenpom started in 2002, since then there’s been four teams that have ever been top five in the country in both two-point field goal defense and defensive rebounding,” Smith said. “2019 Utah State being one of them. So, to be able to do that — with as poor as our program was in that last year — to be able to do that is incredible.”

Photo by Megan Beth Media

Arguably, the Utah State men’s basketball team had its best season in two decades or more. The only season that could be compared is the 2010-11 version when that Aggie squad won a program-record 30 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. These two squads had something in common. Stew Morrill’s team also was a great rebounding and defending team, giving up the fifth least points per game in the country and the third lowest opponent field goal percentage.

It might be a coincidence that these teams share a key attribute like defense or rebounding as part of a successful season. Or, it could be in the DNA of Utah State basketball.

“Just this community as a whole loves Utah State and backs it and supports it,” Smith said. “Just the way we play and how we play, Utah for a long time has been known to be very knowledgeable fan base. So the way we play the game is really appreciated and respected. But I think the sky’s the limit, like why not us, why not Utah State?”  

The fact the team never lost back-to-back games this past season is something the coaches are very proud of, and they’ll let you know just how hard it is to do in Division-one college basketball. In fact, six of the top 10 teams in the final coaches poll lost back-to-back games at some point during the year. So, why not Utah State? It’s a reasonable question to ask.

With the Mountain West being slightly depleted next season a repeat could certainly be on the horizon for the Aggies. The coaching staff believes what they put together this past year was just the first building block in program that can sustain and remain at the peak of its potential for more than just one season.

“It starts to bleed into you,” Ragland said. “I think once you get to that level and you start doing those things, you just believe it. Like, you believe that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. Now that’s the standard”

It all starts with the head coach of a program and Smith echoed the same expectations.

“We have a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” he said. “As magical of a ride as it was it ended sooner than we wanted it to and I think our guys are a little bit disappointed in how we played. We want to build on what we did, and especially as it was last year, we want to build on that and just keep moving forward for years to come.”

Twitter: @dren_sports