Utah State trounces Saint Mary’s in Las Vegas
The Aggies made a statement Monday at the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas, toppling Saint Mary’s 80-63 in impressive fashion.
Last season, Saint Mary’s went 30-6, narrowly missing out on an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and ended up making it to the quarterfinal of the NIT. Plus, the Gaels were 3-0 to start the season, winning those games by an average margin of 22 points. Utah State led Monday’s game by double-digits from the 7:46 mark in the first half until the end of the game, with the lead reaching 24 points early in the second half.
“We had a pretty good game,” said USU center Neemias Queta. “We played really good defense. Our offense was really good. We kept working at our strengths, and we ended up with a good road win.”
Queta, who had an injury scare late in the game against Utah Valley, put together a career night against the Gaels. The freshman out of Portugal led all players in points (24) and blocks (five) while tying teammate Quinn Taylor in rebounds (nine). Queta was also one of the most efficient scorers, making 9 of 13 shots from the field and going 6 of 6 at the free throw line.
The offensive state line for Queta, who has played just five games of Division I basketball was solid, but his defense was perhaps more impressive. The five blocks were just part of the performance that led to the Gaels shooting just 26.9 percent on layups during the game.
It wasn’t just the interior defense from Queta and the other bigs on the team; USU’s perimeter defense shut down a Saint Mary’s offense that entered the game ranked 20th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (43.5 percent). The Gaels shot just 25 percent from deep all night.
That backcourt defense was also responsible for slowing down SMC’s leading scorer, Jordan Ford. Prior to facing Utah State, Ford was averaging 28.7 points on 54.9 percent shooting. The Aggies held Ford to 14 points on 4 of 15 shooting.
“This team is really gritty defensively,” said USU head coach Craig Smith. “The guys have really bought into the defensive end, and that’s why we’re having success.”
Utah State’s offense had little trouble getting points for most of the game. The team made 49.2 percent of its shots and continued its success from the free throw line. Coming into the game, the Aggies were fourth in free throw percentage at 82.6 percent. On Monday, they made 16 of 18 (88.9 percent).
Through five games, Utah State has the highest team points per game average (88.0) since 1986-87 (also 88.0). A lot of that has to do with the excellent play of freshmen like Queta and Brock Miller, who scored eight points Monday and had a game high plus-minus of +20. Other new contributors like John Knight III and Crew Ainge have also executed at a high level.
“People forget, we’re one of the youngest teams in the country,” Smith said. “We have 12 guys dressed and five of those 12 are freshman and then we have four guys that have had any kind of meaningful experience last year.”
The Aggies’ opponent will be the winner of Arizona State and Mississippi State, the two teams on the other side of the “Heavyweight” four-team bracket.