Utah State dominates Geoducks in exhibition game
Utah State played their first game of competitive basketball, though the game itself far from close with the Aggies winning by 51 points 96-45 over Evergreen State College.
USU pushed its dominance from the first minute, opening up a 10-2 lead just three minutes into the game. Just after the midway point in the first half, that lead had ballooned to 28-8. The Aggies never took their foot off the pedal, increasing the lead steadily until it reached its peak at 51 — with 33 seconds left in the game.
“I loved how our guys played,” head coach Craig Smith said. “Certainly, it wasn’t always a thing of art or beauty. But some of the things that we really talked about as a team really showed through that first half.”
One of the first things Smith mentioned in the post-game press conference was the low number of turnovers from his team. Utah State had just seven miscues all night and only two in the first half. Last season, the Aggies averaged 13.0 turnovers per game (223rd in the nation)
“That was a major issue for our team last year,” Smith said. “To win you’ve got to eliminate losing and that means you’ve got to play good defense, which I though, overall, we did a good job. You’ve got to be able to not turn it over and then force some turnovers and then make your free throws.”
Utah State did well in most of those areas. Evergreen State shot just 25.8 percent from the field all night and 25.0 percent from three on 24 attempts from behind the arc. The Geoducks also had 17 turnovers which led to 22 fastbreak points for the Aggies. The only one of those things USU didn’t do well was shoot free throws, making a less-than-stellar 68.8 percent of their 16 chances from the charity stripe.
In addition to the pedestrian free throw shooting, the Aggies struggled on perimeter shots. The team shot 1-11 in the first half, ending the game 3-of-18 from deep.
Senior forward Dwayne Brown Jr. scores a layup in the second half against Evergreen State.
Despite the poor outside shooting, Utah State excelled in the half court. They generated quality shots all night and passed a lot, generating 29 assists. And of the 76 shots the team took, 48 were either layups or dunks and they converted 68.8 percent of those attempts at the rim. Only 20 of USU’s 96 points came outside the paint.
The two leading scorers were both freshman, point guard Tauriwan Knight and center Neemias Queta. Knight led all scorers with 16 points with Queta right behind with 15. At the end of the first half, Knight scored the final 10 points for the Aggies.
“I just always really want to be aggressive,” Knight said. “So, I just made the (play) when it was my time.”
Queta was especially good inside, dominating the Evergreen State frontcourt, which didn’t have an answer to the length of the 6-foot-11 bigman. In the first half alone, Queta was 6-of-9 from the floor with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
The imposing interior play wasn’t limited to Queta, though Fellow freshman center Ben Fakira played well inside, scoring 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and hauling in 10 rebounds to record his first double-double as an Aggie.
Utah State’s season opener will be on the road against Montana State. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. on Nov. 6.