USU men’s hoops ends 2020 with 83-48 victory
New Year’s Eve is traditionally known for things popping off. Headlines, fireworks, bottles, etc. But after Thursday afternoon’s game in Colorado Springs, you can add something new to this year’s list: The Utah State offense.
The Utah State men’s basketball team put on a clinic in its 83-48 win over the Air Force Falcons, scoring a season-high 45 points off turnovers, hitting a season-best 12 made three-pointers, and passing for 24 total assists on 34 made field goals, to help claim its first 3-0 start in Mountain West history.
They were effective all afternoon working the ball in and out of the post, passing the ball effectively in transition and knocking down shots in rhythm. The Aggies finished 34-65 from the field for a season-high 52.3 percent and scored 73 points in the first 31 minutes of the game before taking the starters out.
“I thought we shared the ball really well, we had a good game,” said junior guard Brock Miller. “Anytime you can get a win here at Air Force it’s big time.”
“I think we’re starting to kind of hit our stride,” said head coach Craig Smith. “We’re understanding our style of play and moving without the ball.”
The Aggie’s stout defensive performance also helped to facilitate the offense, with the team forcing a season-high 26 turnovers. The Aggies also won the rebound battle 32-23, creating even more opportunities on the offensive side of the ball.
“We were really active on the ball defensively and it caused a lot of deflections,” Miller said. “Neemy (Queta) saved us a lot because of just how active he is running with his hands, same with Bean and these other guys…our activity led us to be able to get them to turn the ball over which led to easy offense for us.”
Junior forward Justin Bean led the way with 15 points — including two rare threes — and five assists. Miller finished the game 5-10 from the field for 14 points. Junior guard Marco Anthony contributed an efficient 12 points on 5-5 shooting with a team-high six assists. Junior center Neemais Queta had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Steven Ashworth also had 10 points, while sophomore guard Sean Bairstow pitched in nine points.
The game started out with a lot of made baskets from Air Force, thanks to it’s “Princeton offense” scheme which kept the Aggies guessing early. The Falcons managed to score nine points in the first four minutes before USU dug in and held them to 19 points the rest of the half.
“Early when it was a closer game, we weren’t doing exactly what we were supposed to do with how we guard their Princeton offense,” Smith said. “But it takes time to settle into that and once we really settled in and figured out what we were supposed to be doing, then we made it very difficult on them.”
Eventually, the Aggie offense had its way in the first half, picking the AFA zone defense apart with an inside-out passing game, getting good looks all over the court and getting everybody involved. They had 14 first-half assists, a lot of which came through Queta and Bean who helped the offense get going. The ‘Neem n’ Bean machine’ combined for 17 first-half points and four first-half assists.
“When you have your bigs that can pass like that now all a sudden it becomes a much easier game,” Smith said.
The Aggies finished the half with 44 points, shooting 18-33 from the field and 6-16 from beyond the arc and the whole team was making the right plays. Freshman guard Rollie Wooster penetrated the lane and kicked it out to Bairstow for a rhythm three. Queta got the ball at the low block and bounced it to a dashing Anthony for a layup. Miller had a cross-court pass to Anthony, who found darting sophomore center Treven Dorious for the easy bucket. The entire offense was in motion.
As they have managed to do all season, Utah State went on a big run to start the second half, outscoring AFA 28-8 in the first nine minutes. A barrage of threes from the Aggie guards — including a trio of three’s from Miller — effectively put the game out of reach with eleven minutes left on the clock.
“When you have guys that drive and kick it just makes it easy for you to get open looks, I mean it’s not hard to knock them down,” said Miller. “When you get a good rhythm three it’s nice and it’s very helpful to get going.”
For the third game in a row, all 15 Aggie players got action on the court.
Utah State will ring in the new year with another clash against Air Force just two days later on Saturday, Jan. 2.
“I told the guys to enjoy the victory until midnight,” Smith said. “Tomorrow morning we’re going to wake up, we’re going to watch film and it’s a totally different game the next game.”