NCAA Tournament: A look at UW Huskies’ opponent, No. 8 seed Utah St
Mar 17, 2019, 11:42 PM
The UW Huskies will match up with Mountain West champ Utah State on Friday. (Getty)
(Getty)
The ninth-seeded UW Huskies have a few things in common with their opponent in Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
NCAA Tournament: Zags No. 1 seed in West, UW No. 9 in Midwest
Just like Washington, eighth-seeded Utah State will be playing its first tournament game since 2011 when the two teams tip off in Columbus, Ohio. The Aggies rely on their conference player of the year to lead their offense, similar to UW’s Jaylen Nowell. And like the Huskies’ Matisse Thybulle, the Aggies have a game-changing defender who won the defensive player of the year award in their conference.
Ahead of the UW Huskies’ return to the NCAA Tournament, let’s take a closer look at their opponent in the round of 64.
Offense goes through Sam Merrill
If there’s any one thing to know about Utah State, it’s that Sam Merrill is the heart and soul of its team.
A 6-foot-5 junior guard from Bountiful, Utah, Merrill averages 21.2 points per game, and he stuffs the stat sheet in nearly ever game. He also leads the Aggies with 4.2 assists per game, is tied for second on the team with 1.1 steals per game, and adds 4 rebounds per game.
Merrill is a sharpshooter at the line (90.7 percent) and his 84 3-pointers (on 222 attempts) is also tops for Utah State.
Think twice about shooting
UW forward Noah Dickerson will have his hands full in the paint dealing with Neemias Queta, Utah State’s 6-11 freshman center from Portugal. Queta scores 11.9 points and pulls down 8.9 rebounds per game, and his average of 2.4 blocks helped him win Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year along with the conference’s Freshman of the Year award.
The Huskies rely a fair bit on penetration to the basket, and with Queta’s shot-blocking ability, getting him into foul trouble will certainly need to be a focus on Friday.
“He’s a high-level big man,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after Queta led Utah State past the Aztecs for the Mountain West championship on Saturday. “He protects the rim so you can make mistakes on the perimeter. You can extend your defense and pressure knowing he’s protecting the rim. He’s an elite big man.”
‘Stars in their roles’
While Merrill and Queta get most of the attention, it took more than that duo for the Aggies to win their first Mountain West tournament. That’s something first-year Utah State coach Craig Smith spoke to KSL.com about on Saturday.
“What doesn’t get talked about enough is the rest of our guys,” Smith said. “They’re stars in their role.
“I think that’s the key ingredient to being really good. You better have a couple of dudes like these two guys (Merrill and Queta) – but you’d better have guys that are stars in their roles.”
Among those key role players:
• Brock Miller, a 6-6 freshman guard who can get on a hot streak from downtown (he made 5 of 7 3s in a win over Fresno State last month) and could create some trouble for the Huskies’ zone defense.
• Diego Brito, a versatile 6-5 guard who averages 8.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
• Quinn Taylor (8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.2 apg), a forward who at 6-8 and 240 pounds adds some beef for opponents to deal with along with Queta’s length down low.
• Abel Porter, a sophomore guard who worked his way into the starting lineup and is on an impressive shooting streak over the last two weeks. Porter has hit 12 of 21 shots in four games since March 5, including 4 of 6 (2 of 2 from beyond the arc) in a 10-point, three-assist, two-steal performance in Saturday’s MWC title win.
