USU prepared for tough showdown on road at Air Force
This Saturday will be round two between the Utah State and Air Force basketball programs, with this matchup being played on the Falcon’s home court. Last time these two teams met, Utah State earned its first conference win, handing Air Force a 79-62 defeat in the process. But, playing in Clune Arena has proven to be a difficult task for teams in the Mountain West this season. Air Force has only five wins in conference play and four have come at home, with wins over top teams UNLV and San Diego State.
“Clune Arena is a difficult place to play, and it’s just kind of a different ambiance compared to the rest of the league,” head coach Craig Smith said. “We haven’t won there for three years, It is a totally different environment. It’s a much smaller arena, It’s very loud in there.”
Clune Arena may be a tough place to play, but the Aggies still feel they have the upperhand.
“At the end of the day, like they say in Hoosiers, it’s 90 feet long and 10 feet high and you just have to be able to adjust,” Smith said. “You just try to tell your team, especially those guys that have never played there and some that have been there, so you just try to get them acclimated with the environment ahead of time.”
Utah State played well in many areas of its game the last time these teams met. They out-rebounded the Falcons 39-19, held them under 40 percent shooting, while shooting 55.8 percent themselves and 42.3 percent from three.
That game featured a couple of first for Aggie players. Junior guard Sam Merrill set a career-high with 12 assists in the game, along with a team high 18 points. Sophomore guard Abel Porter played his first game with twenty-plus minutes, eventually taking over the starting position from fellow sophomore Crew Ainge. Redshirt-freshman guard Brock Miller had a career high 12 three-point attempts, to go along with 15 points.
One thing that was missing in their last meeting was Air Force junior forward Ryan Swan, who was out with a concussion. Swan is Air Force’s second-highest scoring and has been averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds over his past two games.
“He’s one of their three guys that’s averaging double digits in league play, and he’s getting 3.5 offensive rebounds a game which is an elite number, quite frankly,” Smith said.
Utah State has a few players of its own in good form over the past few games. Freshman center Neemias Queta has recorded 10 or more rebounds in each of his past seven games and is averaging 12 points a game as well. Merrill has continued to lead the Aggies’ scoring drive, averaging 24.2 points per game over the past six, while shooting 47 percent from three.
Utah State has won eight of its last 10 games and is positioning itself well to earn a first-round bye in the Mountain West conference tournament, with just six games left in the regular season. After a loss to San Diego State and a tough first half against Wyoming, Utah State played up to its normal standards in the second half and outscored Wyoming 39-22.
“We played very good basketball the last 15 minutes of the game in particular on both sides of the ball,” Smith said. “We weren’t our normal selves with some things with San Diego State. Some of that was them, some of that was us. So, hopefully, that’ll give us good momentum going into Saturday’s game.”