Aggie men take on New Mexico in Mountain West Tournament opener
LAS VEGAS (The Utah Statesman) — The second seeded Utah State Aggies take on New Mexico in its opening game of the Mountain West Tournament, looking to avenge its loss to the Lobos in the semifinals of last year’s tournament.
Fresh off nine days of rest and two days removed from receiving four of the six Mountain West year end awards, Utah State continues its dream season and looks to take home a conference tournament title to go with its share of the regular season one it holds with Nevada.
The Aggies will be in an unfamiliar role Thursday night, playing as the favorite in the second round of the tournament. Since entering the conference, Utah State has never been a top four seed. But having the added pressure doesn’t change the mindset of the team according to the newly crowned conference player of the year.
“We’re still hungry,” junior guard Sam Merrill said. “A lot of people picked Nevada to win this tournament, and that’s fine obviously they’re a very good team. So we’re still hungry and we know we’re going to have to bring it.”
Utah State brought it in the first two meetings, sweeping the Lobos on the season. In the first meeting between these two teams saw sophomore guard Abel Porter drain a game-winning three to steal a 68-66 win from the Lobos on the road. The next time these teams faced off was in Logan, a game in which New Mexico played the Aggies close for nearly 30 minutes before Utah State pulled away for a 71-55 win.
“Utah State is an amazing basketball team,” New Mexico head coach Paul Weir said. “I could go on and on about what I think about them, their team, their program. They play basketball the way I love to watch. They’re great.”
Working to prepare for the Aggies’ style of play is something Weir mentioned they’ll have to focus on over the next 24 hours before these teams meet again. And the Lobos have a few things they could improve on.
Senior guard Anthony Mathis was the leading scorer in the previous two meetings, however, the rest of his team didn’t follow his lead shooting the ball. Aside from Mathis going 13-22 from the field, the Lobos shot just 35 percent against the Aggies. Mathis leads New Mexico in scoring, putting up 14.5 points per game. He also leads the conference in three-point shooting percentage at 43 percent. But despite his scoring prowess the Lobos rank ninth in the conference in field goal percentage.
The Lobos do, however, put up the fourth most points in conference. Which will be a great test for Utah State’s defense, which ranks best in the conference in almost every statistical category.
“You just constantly give guys different looks, a different dose,” Utah State head coach Craig Smith said. “Whether it be personnel wise or screen and roll coverages and those sorts of things.”
One player the Aggies will need to keep its eyes on is redshirt sophomore forward Vance Jackson. The defense of Utah State was able to hold Jackson to just 21 points in the previous two games, but Wednesday night was a different story for Jackson. He helped New Mexico complete a 16 point comeback and eventually pull out a 78-68 win. Jackson scored 13 straight points for the Lobos in the second half, half of his 26 on the night.
“He’s a big key for those guys, he’s a very talented guy,” Smith said. “The second half against Wyoming he really caught fire, and he does that. He’s been a weapon for those guys that can really cause a lot of mismatch issues.”
Fortunately for Utah State, its starting center was the defensive player of the year in the Mountain West for this current
USU Men’s Basketball plays against New Mexico at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. February 20, 2019. Logan, UT.
season. Freshman center Neemias Queta was able to impact the game in a major way the last time these two teams met. Queta had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and between him and senior forward Quinn Taylor, the Aggies were able to hold the Lobos to just 22 points in the paint. Going up against one of, if not the best defense in the conference, New Mexico will have to be much sharper offensively than they were Wednesday night.
“We looked a little on edge. We looked a little jumpy. We were a little emotional,” New Mexico head coach Paul Weir said. “Hopefully that’s what we’re going to learn from this game, more than anything. Just having a better mental approach and just being more stable through the course of the game tomorrow night.”
For Utah State, a win would bolster its resume for the NCAA tournament even more, but a loss, might make the decision whether or not to put them in a little harder for the committee. But the Aggie players want to do what they can to avoid leaving it in someone else’s hands.
“I mean everyone is saying we’re in, but we’ll believe it when we see it,” Merrill said. “So ideally, obviously we wanna win this thing. For one it’s pretty fun cutting down nets and winning a championship like that. And two, that would make this Sunday much easier, so that’s definitely our goal.”
Twitter: @dren_sports