Five Must-Watch Games for Utah State Basketball in 2019-20
Aggies’ non-conference schedule includes three likely Top 25 teams
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Expectations are as high as ever in Logan. Can Utah State live up to the task?
Utah State enters the season as preseason favorites to win the Mountain West after taking home a share of the title along with last year’s unanimous preseason favorite, Nevada. The Aggies are also coming off a Mountain West Tournament championship run that launched the team into a 9-seed in the Big Dance. With the league’s Player of the Year (Sam Merrill) and Newcomer of the Year (Neemias Queta) back in the fold for the 2019-20 season, expectations are through the roof in Logan.
But which of Utah State’s matchups present the highest risks – and highest rewards?
The Aggies released their full schedule last week and there are some very intriguing contests throughout the season, especially in their non-conference games. Here are the five most important dates on Utah State’s schedule, including a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Jamaica, a matchup against a potential Top 5 team, and a rematch of one of last season’s most memorable – and infamous – games.
11/22 – vs. LSU (Jersey Mike’s Classic – Montego Bay, Jamaica)
After the Tigers overtook Tennessee for an improbable SEC title last season, LSU drew a lot of national attention. Unfortunately for the team, that was not the only headline news coming out of Baton Rouge. Will Wade became embroiled in scandal midseason when recordings went public featuring the young head coach discussing payment for talented guard Ja’vonte Smart. LSU finished the season with assistant Tony Benford serving as interim coach. Despite the controversy, the team earned a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and made it to the Sweet 16. Smart is back this year, as well as backcourt mate Sklyar Mays and sophomore big man Emmitt Williams. Joining Williams in the frontcourt will be heralded freshman Trendon Waters, a Top 20 player nationally according to 247Sports. Wade has been reinstated by the university and will return to the sidelines in 2019-20 – and he’ll be looking for his team to return to national prominence once more. This game could be huge for the Aggies, as the first of three chances to add Quadrant 1 victories to their résumé before Christmas.
11/29 – @ Saint Mary’s (Moraga, CA)
This trip down to the Bay Area represents the only true road game for Utah State in the non-conference season. In what should be one of the premier mid-major matchups of the entire 2019-20 season, look for Randy Bennett’s Gaels to give the Aggies a serious run for their money. Like USU, Saint Mary’s has a good chance at debuting in the preseason Top 25 later this fall. Their star tandem of Jordan Ford and Malik Fitts provides a tantalizing matchup for Merrill and Queta. After beating Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament last season, Saint Mary’s snuck into the NCAA Tournament and gave Villanova a run for their money. Now, they return just about everybody and should be a lock for second place in their league behind the Zags. This will be the first game for the Aggies after their trip to Jamaica, so they need to be careful that they don’t come back too jet-lagged. A win over the Gaels could really help Utah State’s case for seeding in the NCAA Tournament, especially if Craig Smith can’t collect victories in either of the team’s games against highly-touted SEC opponents.
12/21 – vs. Florida (Orange Bowl Basketball Classic – Sunrise, FL)
The Gators come into the season with the highest expectations for the program since the glory days of those mid-aughts Billy Donovan squads that won back-to-back NCAA championships. Already looked at as a Top 15 team heading into 2019-20, Florida made a huge splash in landing the country’s top graduate transfer, big man Kerry Blackshear. The ex-Virginia Tech star was an All-ACC second-team selection last season after scoring roughly 15 points per game while pulling down seven and half rebounds. He will bring his 6-foot-10, 250-pound frame to Gainesville, along with his veteran presence. But the Gators’ returning trio of Andrew Nembhard, Noah Locke, and Keyontae Johnson was already enough to strike fear into the hearts of opponents. With Blackshear, Florida is likely to come into the year as a Top 10 team in the national polls. This is probably the biggest win available for the Aggies this season, especially when you consider that it is, for all intents and purposes, a road game. If Queta is healthy for this game, it promises be one of the best matchups of big men all year for college basketball. If not, the Aggies will have some serious problems containing Blackshear.
Those are the highlights from the non-conference schedule. But which league games will be most important for the Aggies in 2020?
The stakes – and emotions – will be high when the Wolf Pack come to visit
1/11 – vs. Nevada (Logan, UT)
This game is going to be huge, as the Wolf Pack will also have this one circled on their calendars – especially because this is the only matchup of the two teams this year. Last season saw a post-game fracas go viral in the aftermath of the Aggies’ upset victory over Nevada in Logan. Though most of the involved parties from Nevada’s team are gone now, the fans have surely not forgotten about the incident. As if that storyline weren’t enough, Utah State could put an end to the Wolf Pack’s three-year run as Mountain West champions. New head coach Steve Alford’s club won’t go down without a fight, though. Returning guards Jazz Johnson and Lindsey Drew will provide veteran leadership by a team with many fresh faces, including Jalen Harris, Eric Parrish, Johncarlos Reyes, and KJ Hymes. If Alford is able to jump-start Nevada’s rebuild after losing so much from last year, this game could have serious implications in the league title race. Regardless, this should be one of the most anticipated games of the Mountain West season and the energy at Smith Spectrum will be through the roof.
2/1 – @ San Diego State (San Diego, CA)
Brian Dutcher has worked hard at building the Aztecs roster, including bringing in two very promising transfers for the backcourt. Malachi Flynn and KJ Feagin both came south to San Diego after starring at Washington State and Santa Clara, respectively. Flynn averaged 15.8 points and 4.3 assists for the Cougars in 2017-18, while Feagin put in 17.5 points nightly as a junior before an injury sidelined him for nearly all of last season. Big man Yanni Wetzell was also brought in as a grad transfer from Vanderbilt. Those three will join the returning cast of Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel, as well as brothers Nathan and Joel Mensah for San Diego State. That roster should give SDSU a very good chance at a second-place finish, but names alone don’t win games. When the Aggies come to Viejas Arena, expect Dutcher to throw the kitchen sink at Utah State. If the Aztecs are to have any shot at winning the league this season, beating USU at home is a virtual prerequisite. And for Craig Smith’s club, a road win here could be a big boost for their NCAA Tournament seeding.
Honorable Mention
Naturally, over the course of 30-plus games, every team will have more than just five important matchups. In their earliest test, the Aggies face off against intrastate foes Weber State and their potential Big Sky Player of the Year in Jerrick Harding. Another Utah rivalry comes to pass in December when the team meets BYU in the Beehive Classic. After that, a matchup in the Battleground 2K19 event against South Florida in Houston could cause problems. The Bulls’ LaQuincy Rideau is one of the country’s premier defenders and will do his best to lock down Merrill.
As far as other Mountain West games, Utah State now has the unenviable position of getting everyone’s hardest punch every night. Aside from the games against Nevada and SDSU, the Aggies should be especially wary of a late February trip to The Pit. Utah State faces Paul Weir’s New Mexico side in the regular-season finale. If the Lobos can fully live up to the rising hype around their team, which features former Ohio State starter JaQuan Lyle joining up with a talented but underachieving core of returning players, that game could even have the Mountain West title on the line. The Aggies were an upstart squad that butted their way up to the top of the league and perhaps rattled a Nevada team that went from a trendy preseason Final Four pick to flaming out in the first round as a #7 seed.
Craig Smith will need to keep his team focused every single night to avoid a similar fate.
Smith and his team are not just fighting for a Mountain West title in 2019-20. Utah State has a legitimate chance to grab a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would all but guarantee a short trip to either Spokane or Sacramento under the selection committee’s bracketing guidelines. So, while their league games will obviously be of great importance, the Aggies’ ability to grab at least one marquee win away from home during the non-conference season will be vitally important.
If they come up empty in those games and/or stumble to any significant degree during league play, the Aggies could find themselves in less-than-ideal conditions come March. But a couple big wins in the early season could give the team an easier road to the Sweet 16 – and maybe beyond.
Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.
