USU to face Fresno State in semifinal grudge match

LAS VEGAS — Utah State made to the Mountain West tournament semifinal for just the second time in program history. The Aggies will face Fresno State in that round at 9:30 p.m. MT and 8:30 local time in Las Vegas.

The season series between the Bulldogs and Aggies was by far the most competitive of any one Utah State played in. Both games were decided by just one point, with Fresno State winning 78-77 in Logan — the Aggies’ only home loss of the season — and Utah State winning 82-81 in Fresno.

While Utah State were forced to deal with a major scare in the quarterfinal, nearly losing to seventh seeded New Mexico, the Bulldogs easily handled Air Force 76-50 in their opening game of the tournament Thursday. They did this despite Mountain West Newcomer of the Year-winner Braxton Huggins scoring just one point, shooting a whopping 0 of 11 overall. In his place, First Team All-Conference guard Deshon Taylor scored 18 plus two solid bench performances from New Williams and Aguir Agau (12 and 16 points respectively).

Huggins may have struggled in on Thursday, but against Utah State, he had two of his best games of the season. He averaged 29.5 points (totals of 26 and 33), the highest average by Huggins against any team this year. In the game at the Spectrum, Huggins made eight 3-pointers, including the game-winner with 5.5 seconds left in the game.

USU guard Sam Merrill, the Mountain West player of the Year, has averaged 28.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in his last five games, but struggled with efficiency in both games against FSU. Merrill scored just 18.0 points per game on 36 percent shooting. Neemias Queta, on the other hand, went to town on the Bulldogs. The freshman center — recently named Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in for the Mountain West — averaged 17.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks in his two outings against Fresno State. He also missed just one shot, going 14 of 15 in those contests.