Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LOGAN — The 2018-19 school year might be the year of the Aggies. The Utah State football team is off to its best start in school history at 10-1 and ranked No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
But the Aggies' men's basketball program is also off to its best start in five years after a dominating 80-63 win over Saint Mary's in the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas Monday. And they're doing it under a new head coach in Craig Smith.
Smith was hired in March to take over a Utah State program that hadn't won 20 games in a season since the 2012-13 season when the Aggies finished 21-10. But under a new regime, Utah State is 5-0 early on with every win coming by double digits.
The Aggies scored over 100 points in easy wins over Montana State and Hartford to open the season. The Aggies narrowly missed 100 points in their 94-59 win over Mississippi Valley State before grinding out a 65-46 win over Utah Valley on Nov. 13. It was the 13th straight win for Utah State over the Wolverines.
Then came Monday night's performance that had college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman in a bit of disbelief.
So what changed for the 2018-19 Aggies so far? Maybe it is a more up-tempo approach. Perhaps it is that the Aggies have a rim protector. Or maybe that the Aggies are sharing the basketball — they have recorded 16 or more assists in every contest thus far. Those assists have led to four different Aggies scoring 20 or more points in a game.
Monday night, freshman center Neemias Queta and junior guard Sam Merrill scored 24 and 23 points, respectively, marking the first time a pair of Aggies have scored 20 or more in the same game since Merrill and Koby McEwen scored 21 and 20 points against Air Force on Jan. 24, 2018.
Here are a few other stats that have led to the Aggies dominance in their first five games: Utah State leads the Mountain West in free throw percentage (.836), rebounding margin (+16.0), rebounds per game (45.8), defensive field goal percentage (.332), scoring margin (+25.6), blocks per game (5.8) and offensive rebound percentage (.382).
And even the Utah State bench is contributing each game and has outscored the opponents' reserves in every game.
Utah State boasts just two seniors on its youthful squad in forwards Quinn Taylor and Dwayne Brown Jr.
But according to Smith, the Aggies are buying in and it's paying dividends.
"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 haven't had any kind of meaningful experience last year.
"This team is really gritty defensively," he added. "These guys have really bought into the defensive end of the floor, and that's why we're having success."
Next up for the Aggies is the MGM Main Event Championship Game against Arizona State in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. MT.
A 6-0 start would be the programs' best since the 1966-67 season and would put the first-year head coach alone in second for the best start in school history.
Aggie fans have been hoping to bring back some Spectrum Magic; and with a 5-0 start to a new season under a new coach, that magic is slowly creeping back onto the Utah State campus. Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
