LOGAN — Following an offseason of unprecedented hype and preseason accolades, the Utah State basketball program couldn’t be more thrilled to finally have a chance to prove themselves on the court Tuesday night at the Spectrum.
“We’re just excited to get back out there; it feels like it’s been a long offseason,” USU senior guard Sam Merrill said after practice Monday afternoon. “Obviously we’ve put in a lot of work and made some good strides this preseason, but you don’t truly know until you go out and play someone. So we’re excited to get this group out there and see what we’re made of, and we’ve got a good test coming in for the first game.”
Ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, the Aggies will face off against Montana State in their season opener for the second year in a row. But a year ago in Bozeman, Utah State was the team that was tough to prepare for thanks to a new head coach and whole lot of fresh faces.
“Coach (Craig Smith) talked about that today how the script had been flipped a little bit,” Merrill noted. “We think we have a decent idea of the stuff they’re going to run, but we know that with this new coach they’re going to play hard and with a lot of energy, so we’re going to have to match that.”
The Aggies certainly hope the Bobcats don’t do to them what they did to the Bobcats to open the 2018-19 season. Utah State came into the campaign with very low expectations for Smith’s inaugural season, but the Aggies ended up demolishing Montana State 101-71 and never looked back, going 28-7 and winning both regular-season and postseason tournament championships.
Due to that success, the Aggies became the first-ever unanimous preseason pick to win another Mountain West championship, while Merrill was also selected as the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year after being named the Mountain West Player of the Year last year.
Merrill, who scored a then-career-high 37 points at Montana State a year ago, reinjured his left ankle in USU’s exhibition game against the College of Idaho and played just 14 total minutes.
“I’m good. I’ll be good to go — it was just a little tweak,” Merrill said of his injury. “I’ve had this left ankle that I rolled pretty bad in the summer, but it’s basically 100%. I’ll be fine.”
But while Merrill will be on the court Tuesday night, Smith made it clear that Neemias Queta will not be. Last year’s Mountain West Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year is still trying to come all the way back from a serious knee injury he suffered in July while playing for his home country of Portugal in the FIBA U20 European Championships.
Although he participated in some of the Aggies’ warmup drills prior to last week’s exhibition game, Queta didn’t see any action that night and Utah State is clearly being extremely cautious with the talented big man who flirted with making himself eligible for the 2019 NBA Draft.
“(Queta) won’t be out there, but other than that, we should be good,” Smith said, adding that 7-foot-2 junior college transfer Kuba Karwowski will be available on Tuesday after being sidelined the past couple of weeks with a foot injury.
Smith also announced that freshman forward Liam McChesney will be redshirted, while former Virginia guard Marco Anthony will sit out this season per NCAA transfer rules. The Aggies might also redshirt another player, but Smith said that had yet to be decided.
Utah State just recently completed its schedule, adding home games against Saint Katherine and Eastern Oregon on Dec. 10 and 28, respectively. That means the Aggies will play five straight homes in a span of two weeks to open the season, then face LSU and North Texas at a tournament in Jamaica Nov. 22 and 24, before traveling to California to play at St. Mary’s on Nov. 29.
A scheduling quirk has the Aggies opening Mountain West play at San Jose State on Dec. 4, before hosting Fresno State on Dec. 7. Then following the St. Katherine game at home, Utah State will take on BYU at Vivint Arena on Dec. 14, South Florida in Houston on Dec. 18 and Florida in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on Dec. 21. Then it’s back to the Spectrum to play Eastern Oregon before returning to conference play at UNLV on New Year’s Day.
But first, the Bobcats, who are led by new coach and former MSU star Danny Sprinkle, who inherited a program that went 15-17 last season. And while Montana State’s roster includes 10 new names, the Bobcats did retain senior guard Harald Frey, who averaged 17.2 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 2018-19.
“He’s very good,” Smith said of the Norway native. “He can do it all. He can shoot the 3, he’s an excellent penetrator and he makes great decisions. He’s a cross between Sam Merrill and (USU junior point guard) Abel Porter, to be honest. … He’ll be a big-time stabilizing force for them with so many new guys in their program.”