Bean, Anderson carry No. 17 USU over NC A&T
Friday night gave off a mild deja vu vibe with No. 17 Utah State fighting past North Carolina A&T, and themselves, to come away with an 81-54 win in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
With 13:13 left to play in the game, NC A&T (1-3) drew within six points, 42-36 and though the game never seemed in doubt, it gave some flashbacks to the near-miss in the season opener against Montana State.
“It was a grind, especially early on,” Utah State sophomore forward Justin Bean said. “We just weren’t ourselves and weren’t playing our brand of basketball. We turned the ball over too much. That goes on everybody, from guards to bigs, just being locked in mentally.”
USU (4-0) put forth its worst effort of the season in regards to protecting the ball. The Aggies gave the ball away to the also-Aggies 15 times on the night, nine in the first half. The starts of both halves were the primary breeding ground for the blunders. Eight of USU’s first-half turnovers came in the first nine minutes of the game. Utah State then started the second half with four giveaways in the opening five minutes.
“(NC A&T) have a way of making the game get ugly and do a lot of different things, and you’ve got to give them credit,” Utah State head coach Craig Smith said. “They average nine steals a game, they average 15 points a game off of turnovers so it’s kind of what they do. They’re super-aggressive and they just load to the ball and you don’t always know where they’re coming (from).”
When turnovers weren’t plaguing the home team’s offense, things went fairly well minus a rough shooting patch or two. Utah State went 29-of-52 from the field, its best field goal percentage in a game to date this season. USU also made it to the free-throw line 30 times, the second-highest total on the season. However, they made just 18 of those (60 percent), leaving a few more points off the board.
“It was just one of those nights where I thought we were trying hard, but it was just a lot of things did not really go like we wanted them to or anticipated them to, and some nights you have those kind of nights,” Smith said. “To our guys’ credit, there was no complaining or pointing fingers, it was very positive.”
The top performers on offense were forwards Justin Bean and Alphonso Anderson. The latter led all Aggies in points with a career-high 21. Bean finished with a double-double, his second of the season, scoring 18 with 10 rebounds and three assists.
In the past two games, Anderson has played well on the offensive end and is the second-leading scorer in that span, averaging 16.0 points on 62.5 percent shooting from the field along with 15-of-18 shooting on free throws. All of this while coming off the bench.
“I just try to come in and play as hard as I can, make the right plays,” Anderson said. “I feel like I’m a versatile player so I can play different positions so whatever the team needs me to do I can go out there and do it.”
“(Alphonso has) come a long way, quite frankly, from where he was this summer to now and even in the last two weeks,” Smith said.
Bean, likewise, is enjoying one of the best statistical stretches of his young career. The 6-foot-7 sophomore is averaging a double-double this season, posting career-high averages of 14.3 points and 11.0 rebounds. No Utah State player has averaged 10-plus rebounds per game since Mike Santos in the 1976-77 season.
That rebounding by Bean has been key in several games for Utah State, especially with the team’s 2018-19 leading rebounder, Neemias Queta, having sat out the first four games with a knee injury.
“That’s been a goal of mine ever since I got here, to be the best rebounder I could,” Bean said. “So I take that as a personal challenge, to just clean up the glass and try and get extra opportunities on the offensive end.”
Utah State will suit up next against the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) on Monday to close out a five-game home-stand to start the season. Following that game, the Aggies will travel outside the country to face No. 23 LSU and North Texas in the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic over the weekend.
Twitter: @thejwalk67