USU men’s hoops gets the job done against Northern Iowa
After dropping the first two games of the Bad Boy Mowers Classic in unconvincing fashion, Utah State basketball came into its Black Friday matchup against Northern Iowa in desperate need of a quality non-conference victory. An increased level of urgency and balanced offensive performance helped get the job done, as the Aggies beat the Panthers 82-71.
“I thought we got back to playing Aggie basketball,” said Utah State head coach Craig Smith. “I didn’t feel we played the way we were supposed to play, and tonight we were really on attack and played the way we needed to play.”
Early in the second half, it looked as if the game would get away from the Aggies. UNI had already hit 12 threes and showed no signs of slowing down, which forced a 55-47 with 14:12 to play. But thanks to a gritty team effort on both ends of the floor, Utah State responded, going on a 35-16 run to close out the competition.
“We knew we had to come together and get stops when we needed to on the defensive end and also I thought we played with more pace and more energy offensively,” said junior forward Justin Bean. “We were way more aggressive tonight than we were the last two (games) and so all that cultivated into us getting the win tonight and we feel really good about it.”
All five of the starters came to play for the Aggies. Leading the way offensively was junior guard Marco Anthony who had a career high 22 points for the Aggies on 8-16 shooting; just behind him was freshman guard Rollie Worster, who was 5-11 from the field and scored 17 points. Both guards were effective from range, hitting two threes a piece, and also managed to finish at the rim and get to the free throw line.
“I thought Marco Anthony had a great game and Rollie Worster as well,” said Smith. “And those guys are newbies.”
The ‘Neem n’ Bean’ machine got cranking, both junior center Neemias Queta and Bean finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds; Queta also had four blocks. And junior guard Brock Miller pitched in nine points, including a big three down the stretch that helped put the game on ice.
“Justin was really really good tonight,” said Smith. “We got the ball into Queta a lot. Ya know he only got six shot attempts but he got 11 free throw attempts and he was commanding a double team over and over which brought some easy opportunities for the rest of our guys.”
The Aggies finished the game 26-56 from the field, 7-17 from beyond the arc, and 23-31 from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle 43-33. UNI shot 25-69 from the field, 14-37 from beyond the arc, and just 7-9 from the free throw line.
Despite playing their third game in as many days, the Aggies started the game with a level of energy they hadn’t had all tournament. Guys were up and cheering on the sideline, there was better intensity and communication on the court.
Both teams started cold from the field — UNI starting 3-10 and USU starting 5-14 — but the teams settled in. The Aggies kept standout guard A.J. Green partially in check in the first half, but sophomore forward James Betz proved to be a problem, coming off the bench and going 4-4 from beyond the mark, in all UNI scored 27 of its 40 first half points from deep.
The Aggies shot the ball with confidence and managed to get into the paint and put up a season high 39 first half points.
“I thought we got into the paint, we shot 31 free throws,” said Smith. “We were just on attack all night long.”
Starting the second half, Aj Green — who would finish with 24 points on 9-23 shooting — and the UNI offense stayed hot, building their lead to eight. But then Aggies picked up the defensive intensity.
“Northern Iowa is a high octane offense, and AJ green is one of the best players in the country,” Smith said. “The biggest adjustment was just making sure that we were out there and bothering them much more…I thought our screen and roll defense was really good all night long. I thought we made it difficult for Aj green to score – consistently. I thought Marco and our whole team did a really good job with that.”
The rest of the second half was a dominating performance by the Aggies. After a Justin Bean offensive put back, ESPN color analyst Dan Docich declared to the viewers, “They’re just tougher.” Smith stuck with his starters, and it was effective. They kept getting stops, kept attacking the rim, and came away with the 11 point victory.
“We were really balanced tonight,” Smith said. “Obviously we shorted our bench a little bit and I think that really helped us….love the mentality that we played with and we were able to finish the game.”
Smith was proud of his guy’s ability to rise to the occasion after falling short in the first two games.
“I think to our guys’ credit, to Justin and to Neemy, and to Marco, Brock Miller, those veteran guys, (they were) able to look themselves in the mirror and self correct and say we need to be better for our team.”
Utah State will now have eight days to recover and then prepare for a Dec. 5 showdown in the Spectrum versus BYU.
@jacobnielson12
—sports@usustatesman.com