Aggies suffer first loss of season at Saint Mary’s
With exactly three minutes to play, Utah State held a slim 67-66 lead on the road against Saint Mary’s. Sixty-seven seconds later the Aggies were down 72-67. From the moment Justin Bean hit a pair of free throws to give USU that slim lead, the Gaels were in complete control, ending the game on a 15-6 run for a 81-73 win over the Aggies.
“I thought (Saint Mary’s) played a great game. It was a really good basketball game,” USU head coach Craig Smith said of the game that saw 23 lead changes. “Neither team could really extend from one another and we go up four late and then obviously they made a big push to put us away.”
Bean put forth a phenomenal game — 24 points and nine rebounds — despite being called for three fouls in the first half. Senior guard Sam Merrill also showed up big for the Aggies with 23 points and six rebounds of his own, 15 of those points coming in the first half. But in the end, just too much was missing for Utah State to come away with a win in the team’s first official road game of the season.
Star center Neemias Queta missed his eigth straight game, but that wasn’t a surprise as he has yet to step on the court this season due to an offseason knee injury. However, mid-week, fill-in starter Kuba Karwowski had his appendix removed and is now out three weeks which included not traveling to Moraga, California.
Utah State guard Sam Merrill (5) grimaces in pain against Saint Mary’s during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Moraga, Calif., Friday, Nov. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
Though Karwowski played just 16 minutes in two games during USU’s trip to Jamaica last week, the lost potential rim protection cost the Aggies. Saint Mary’s scored 34 points in the paint, making 72.7 percent of its shots at the rim. Conversely, Utah State shot just 52.0 percent when they made it to the tin.
Utah State also lost the rebounding battle for the first time this season 33-31. Karwowski’s absence may not have been huge in that since he’s fifth on the team in rebounds, but Bean (11.4 boards per game entering Friday’s game) not getting a single rebound in the first half, plus the foul trouble likely led directly to SMC’s rebounding advantage. The Gaels grabbed five offensive boards and, in an eight-point contest, got nine points off those second chances.
“They really neutralized us on the glass,” Smith said.
Along with the missing players forced to sit on the bench (or at home in Karwowski’s case), several Aggies didn’t produce the same way they have the rest of the season. Bench stalwarts Alphonso Anderson and Diogo Brito, the former of which got his first start in place of Karwowski, scored just 10 combined points on Friday. The two walked into McKeon Pavilion as one of the best bench duos in the country, scoring 26.3 points between them in USU’s first seven games. Junior point guard Abel Porter finished with seven assists but also had only two points and fouled out for the second time in as many outings.
On the defensive side of the ball, the 81 points from Saint Mary’s set a new season-high for points allowed by the Aggies. Among other season-worsts on the defensive side was the 51.8 percent mark the Gaels shot and the season-low of 10 turnovers forced.
“Give them credit, they made some big-time plays,” Smith said. “Jordan Ford had, what, 22 second-half points I believe it was. We did a really good job on him in the first half and he’s an experienced player, he’s a veteran guy and he hit some difficult shots in crunch time.
Ford indeed scored 22 of his game-high 27 points in the latter 20 minutes. He made 4-of-5 threes in the second half, and in an eight-minute stretch spanning 17:30 and 9:23 in the second, Ford accounted for 16 of Saint Mary’s 21 points.
With a first road game under its belt, Utah State will play it back by traveling to San Jose State where the Aggies will open its Mountain West slate. The Spartans (3-4) were unanimously picked to finish last in the preseason MW media poll.