Utah State Aggies stay close to BYU Cougars despite Sam Merrill’s off night

SALT LAKE CITY — Unlike their Mountain West Conference brethren to the west — the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels and the Nevada Wolf Pack — the Utah State Aggies didn’t get blown away by BYU Saturday night at Vivint Arena. 

But despite battling to the end against the Cougars, Utah State failed to live up to one of its favorite mantras: “Find a way to win.”

“It’s difficult,” USU head coach Craig Smith said after the Aggies’ 68-64 loss to their in-state rivals. “They’re hurting, and I hurt for our team because — and I’m getting emotional here — it’s an unbelievable group of young men to coach. They do everything we ask. We just didn’t find a way to win tonight.”

Utah State’s loss was the eighth straight to the Cougars and left one of the greatest players in school history 0-4 against Brigham Young during his stellar career. Senior guard Sam Merrill knocked down USU’s first field goal of the game, but the Bountiful High product would only make one more basket the reminder of the contest. 

Merrill, who missed just 15 seconds of USU’s second loss of the season, finished 2 for 10 from the field, 0 for 4 from 3-point range and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line while totaling 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists in his final appearance against the Cougars. 

“They did a good job of just running guys at him over and over and over again,” Smith said of the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year. “I’ve got to help Sam out and get him some cleaner looks. 

“But,” Smith continued, “the thing with Sam is, he could have forced some more shots up there, but he’s the ultimate teammate and makes the right read every time.”

Despite Merrill’s quiet offensive night, Utah State (10-2) still had a shot to beat the Cougars (9-4) down the stretch, unlike UNLV (83-50 loss on Dec. 7) and Nevada (75-42 on Dec. 10). Down by nine points after a rough start to the second half, Smith switched from man-to-man defense to a zone press and a zone defense the rest of the night in an effort to slow down BYU’s offense and also help protect forward Justin Bean, who picked up three fouls in the first half. 

The move paid of handsomely for the Aggies, who put together a 7-0 run that tied the game at 50-50 with 12:30 to go. However, Utah State wasn’t ever quite able to get the lead and missed out on their best chance to end its losing streak to the Cougars when Bean and sophomore center Neemias Queta both missed shots from right in front of the basket with under a minute to go and Brigham Young clinging to a 65-64 advantage. 

“We could have done better in man, but I thought our zone really disrupted them and got us back in the game,” said junior guard Abel Porter, who finished with 13 points. “Besides that, we just need to knock down some shots, and we had some right under the hoop there towards the end that I think will go down later in the year.”

After a BYU rebound ended Utah State’s last, best chance to take the lead, the Aggies stayed in their zone on the Cougars’ subsequent possession, and BYU’s Alex Barcello ended up getting an open look from the corner that the junior guard knocked down for a 3-pointer and a final basket of the in-state clash.

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“It was a topic of discussion their last possession where (Barcello) hit the 3,” Smith responded when asked about the Aggie defense on that key play. “Do we go back to man? Because we have been a very good man team the last year and a half. But you’ve got to trust your gut and your instincts and find a way to make a play, and that kid made a big-time play in that moment.”

After Barcello’s big trey, Merrill missed a shot from the free-throw line at the other end, and a BYU rebound all but wrapped up the victory for the Cougars. 

Junior forward Alphonso Anderson led the way offensively for Utah State with 14 points, while Aggie fans were happy to see Queta total 11 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Smith said his standout center is still on a minute restriction as he continues to come back from a knee injury, and he’s not overly concerned with his team bouncing back quickly, despite scoring a season-low 64 points and going just 6 for 22 from 3-point range. 

“I’m proud of how hard we fought,” Smith said. “We were down nine or 10, but we gave ourselves every opportunity to win. We just couldn’t find a way to get the ball in the hole down the stretch. We had a couple of chip shots in there, but it just didn’t go in, but what a great game.”