Aggies win big over Saint Katherine
Utah State’s Tuesday night matchup against Saint Katherine was never really a contest. When the final whistle signaled an end to the on-court massacre, the scoreboard read 94-49.
From first whistle until the last, no doubt lay in the mind of a single attendee as to which team should be deemed superior. The Aggies made it to 15 points before the Firebirds finally got the ball through the net — and that only happened because of a lazy backcourt pass that turned into an open fastbreak layup.
“It was a game everyone was feeling pretty confident about,” freshman center Trevin Dorius said. “And playing with confidence is definitely more fun than playing timid and scared.”
In a vote of confidence for his team, head coach Craig Smith elected to not even dress his two stars: Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta. The latter made more sense as the 7-footer is recovering from an offseason injury and is on minutes restriction. Merrill’s absence came as more of a surprise as its the first time the senior has missed a game since his freshman season in 2016-17.
When asked, Smith confirmed that, if there were more pressure for Merrill to suit up, “he probably would’ve been able to play.”
Thanks to the more open rotation, several Aggies got a bit more court time than usual. Sean Bairstow, averaging 8.6 minutes this year, played a career-high 31 and recorded eight points (on 2 of 8 shooting from the field) with five assists and three rebounds.
Though the result was hardly ever in question, there were multiple lapses in Utah State’s overall play. The Aggies gave the ball away nine times to the Firebirds, leading to 15 first-half points off turnovers for the visiting team.
“In the first half, the biggest thing was that we had too many turnovers, so we have to tighten that up a little bit.” Smith said.
Along with turnovers, Smith pointed out that USU “missed some easy chip shots right at the rim.” On the night, the Aggies made 14 of 30 shots around the bucket (46.7 percent), excluding the six dunks — at least two of which were putbacks after missed lay-ins.
To start the second half, Utah State cleaned up most of the small handful of things holding the team back in the first 20 minutes, especially defensively. In the first five minutes, the Aggies had three steals which led to six points.
“The first five minutes of the second half really set the tone,” Smith said. “We were way more active defensively, had active hands, led to some easy baskets for us off their turnovers.”
Maintaining a high-energy and high-execution mindset in a game that was essentially a scheduled win was something senior guard Diogo Brito talked about after the game and apparently came up during the halftime talk.
“When we play these games guys tend to be a little more lackadaisical,” Brito said. “We’ve got to have the mentality as if we’re playing BYU or whoever, whether it’s a conference game or not or whether it’s a big game or not. We’ve got to build good habits.”
One of those habits the Aggies certainly maintained was rebounding. On the night, USU reeled in 63, two shy of tying a 65-rebound mark (set in 1972 vs New Mexico State) for 10th-most all-time in a single game for Utah State.
“We were just bigger,” Dorius said of Utah State’s rebounding dominance.. “That makes it easier for sure.”
The height advantage enjoyed by Utah State was almost comical. The tallest listed player for Saint Katherine is 6-foot-6 (three players) and only two players who stepped on the court Tuesday for Utah State are listed as shorter than 6-foot-6.
Two Aggies, Dorius and Justin Bean, finished the night with points/rebounds double-doubles. Bean had 12 points and 14 rebounds in just 18 minutes for his sixth straight double-double. Dorius’ 10 points and 11 rebounds gave him his first career double-double.
In the scoring department, Brock Miller led all players from both teams with 22 points. He set a Utah State record by attempting 19 threes, making six of them. Brito added 15 points to go with seven rebounds and a team-leading three steals.
Next up for the Aggies is a trip to Vivint Smart Home Arena and a matchup with in-state rival BYU. The Cougars are off to a solid 8-4 start and have just returned former NBA Draft prospect Yoeli Childs who has averaged 18.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in the three games since his return to the court.