Wanted to get people's opinions on what are the keys to success against SDSU? I have not watched any of their games. I know they are always solid on defense. I think it is key we play solid defense (especially 3). I think we need to limit Mitchell. We need to shoot the 3 better and continue to rebound at a high level.

These next 4 games will tell us really where we are at. We have been destroying teams that we should. I am so excited for these upcoming games. I just wish we could have a full crowd, although have 1500-2000 fans can give us some semblance of an advantage.

Watching the SDSU game tonight. Mensah looks a like a beast. Queta is going to need to be on point and keep him at bay and stay out of foul trouble.

Take care of the ball

SDSU is something of an offensive enigma. KenPom has them at the #51 in offensive adjusted efficiency overall (1.1 points per possession) but in conference games they drop to 1.04. That's still decent, but they have LONG scoring droughts.
Thursday night against Nevada, they had a 12 minute stretch where they scored 8 points. And another 5 minute scoreless streak late in the game. USU has to cause and take advantage of those.
SDSU is susceptible to giving up big leads (since last March ). So if they do get a run, the Aggies have to remember and play through it.

SectionBAggie wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2021, 8:10 pm

SDSU is something of an offensive enigma. KenPom has them at the #51 in offensive adjusted efficiency overall (1.1 points per possession) but in conference games they drop to 1.04. That's still decent, but they have LONG scoring droughts.
Thursday night against Nevada, they had a 12 minute stretch where they scored 8 points. And another 5 minute scoreless streak late in the game. USU has to cause and take advantage of those.
SDSU is susceptible to giving up big leads (since last March ). So if they do get a run, the Aggies have to remember and play through it.

I’ll echo what others have said. Limit TO that would give them easy buckets.

Keep up the great rebounding and keep them off boards

Don’t let Mitchell shoot 10+ FT

Don’t let Shakel get hot from 3

Mitchell put some of that lost 25 back on.

We cannot go on one of our long scoring droughts.

They are good. Very good. The pieces they have are very comparable to our pieces.

Queta - Mensah
Bean - Mitchell
Miller - Schakel
Anthony - Pulliam
Worster, Ashworth - Seiko, Gomez

Now I think Queta is better than Mensah but this may be a shove overall. If Queta can maintain the dominance that we have seen lately that will give us a great advantage. Queta has historically struggled against other skilled big men of similar size. He has been playing against smaller less skilled competition so Mensah will be a good challenge to see how much he has improved and how much has been bad competition.

Mitchell and Schakel may be playing better than Bean and Miller. Both have been hitting 3’s and carrying the bulk of the scoring for SDSU and they have been doing it in multiple ways. They will be very hard to stop, especially Mitchell. I don’t think Schakel is much more athletic than Miller and Miller should be able to shadow him on defense. Given how good our defense has been, he shouldn’t have to pull off and help out on defense. If we can take away the main deep threat that will be good for our defensive strategy overall. Bean and Mitchell have a history of going against each other and neither has shut the other down. I think Anderson has had some success against Mitchell so he may be called upon. Quetas help defense and presence may be the main thing that stops Mitchell though.

Anthony is better than Pulliam and should have a good game. His size advantage over the other guards for SDSU should be important in this game. He has been improving in his ability to attack the rim and should be able to easily shoot over his defender. His defense is also been top notch. I think Anthony might be the game changer for us in this game. We just need him to hit a few 3’s early in the game to set his game up.

Seiko and Gomez off the bench are pretty similar players and both can hit the 3 pretty well. They have been an effective 1-2 lunch at the guard position. Ashworth size is usually a disadvantage on defense but he won’t be the smallest player on the court with Gomez at 5’8”. He should see a lot of time in this game and we will benefit from Ashworths 3pt % which will hopefully counteract Gomez’s production. Ashworth and Worster are freshman and we will see some of those mistakes come out in this game against the experience of Seiko and Gomez.

The bench should play a big factor as well as I think we are a deeper team overall. They are not the same team they were last year and we are not the same team as last year. They do have a loss to BYU and to CSU and we have a few losses. Neither team has peaked yet. I think this game at home in what appears to be pretty evenly matched teams should tilt towards the Aggies. I wouldn’t be surprised or even disappointed with a split. I would be thrilled with a sweep though!

Go Aggies!


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Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2021, 7:17 pm

Wanted to get people's opinions on what are the keys to success against SDSU? I have not watched any of their games. I know they are always solid on defense. I think it is key we play solid defense (especially 3). I think we need to limit Mitchell. We need to shoot the 3 better and continue to rebound at a high level.

These next 4 games will tell us really where we are at. We have been destroying teams that we should. I am so excited for these upcoming games. I just wish we could have a full crowd, although have 1500-2000 fans can give us some semblance of an advantage.

I shared some stats that I found on San Diego State.

San Diego State beats Nevada on a buzzer beater.

SLB wrote:San Diego State beats Nevada on a buzzer beater.

I think SDSU plays to the level of their competition this year. Every game seems to be close other than the St Mary’s game.


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1. I think Queta is going to have to dominate inside on defense.
2. Utah State needs to make three point shots and get open from there.
3. We can't let Shakel and Mitchell get hot from 3.

I understand the points about turnovers, but SDSU doesn't really put a lot of effort into forcing turnovers. That will be more of an issue against other teams, IMO.

AggieFBObsession wrote: ↑

January 9th, 2021, 9:21 pm

1. I think Queta is going to have to dominate inside on defense.
2. Utah State needs to make three point shots and get open from there.
3. We can't let Shakel and Mitchell get hot from 3.

I understand the points about turnovers, but SDSU doesn't really put a lot of effort into forcing turnovers. That will be more of an issue against other teams, IMO.

Limiting Shakel and Mitchell from the 3 will be one of the biggest keys. Queta also has to be able to cover Mensah without help from the double team. Double teaming Mensah could lead to disaster since they have good 3 pt. shooters. Hopefully Bean can defend Mitchell well and Anthony cover Shakel well.

I wonder if coach Smith will have Anthony defend Mitchell.

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:42 am

I wonder if coach Smith will have Anthony defend Mitchell.

Is anthony strong enough to guard mitchell? I would worry he would bully his way to the rim and shoot a lot of free throws.

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:55 am

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:42 am

I wonder if coach Smith will have Anthony defend Mitchell.

Is anthony strong enough to guard mitchell? I would worry he would bully his way to the rim and shoot a lot of free throws.

I remember earlier Smith saying Anthony could guard four positions. It'd be worth a shot. Anthony is our best defender.

How tall is Ashworth really? I really like his play, but someone said he was 6’1”. I’m thinking 5’11” tops.

I feel like it's going to come down to which teams bench plays better. I think we have the advantage there.

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bullshot wrote:How tall is Ashworth really? I really like his play, but someone said he was 6’1”. I’m thinking 5’11” tops.

I would buy whatever he is listed as. He looks smaller than everyone else, but our next smallest guy is 6’4, right?


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I think splitting with SDSU and Boise would be what we are hoping to accomplish. Anything more would be great,,,,,less a #3 seed.

TheAKAggie wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 11:30 am

bullshot wrote:How tall is Ashworth really? I really like his play, but someone said he was 6’1”. I’m thinking 5’11” tops.

I would buy whatever he is listed as. He looks smaller than everyone else, but our next smallest guy is 6’4, right?


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Just for @ususports . Size does not matter.

Queta will be the difference. They’ll leave him one on one vs Mensah so he’ll have to score efficiently down low. If he can do that then it will create open shots outside. If he’s not efficient then I’m afraid we’ll struggle offensively.

I think Mitchell is slimmer now than last year and he was slimmer last year than the year before. I think the Aggies will win by double digits. We move the ball with and unselfish fervor. SDSU does a lot of dribbling and fewer passes.


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SDSU is shooting almost 25 3-pointers per game on average. Guard the line well (which we typically don't) and we win easily.

Win the rebound battle.
Have less turnovers.

If so......we win.

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 9:01 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:55 am

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:42 am

I wonder if coach Smith will have Anthony defend Mitchell.

Is anthony strong enough to guard mitchell? I would worry he would bully his way to the rim and shoot a lot of free throws.

I remember earlier Smith saying Anthony could guard four positions. It'd be worth a shot. Anthony is our best defender.

I actually think this would be a good matchup. Anthony is really strong, remember gary wanted him as a linebacker . However if you do that you put Justin bean on the wing on defense and away from rebounding. Granted Mitchell plays the wing as well. Their starters are their center, Mitchell at the 4 and then three guards really. We did have Alphonso guarding schackel in the mw tournament last year so maybe that is who bean guards.

bullshot wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 10:05 am

How tall is Ashworth really? I really like his play, but someone said he was 6’1”. I’m thinking 5’11” tops.

An interesting matchup will be the backup pg spot of ashworth vs Gomez. Ashworth will need to stay with Gomez as that kid can shoot especially if you leave him open.

I think the key is going to be Justin Bean. USU will win or lose based on how he plays. Mitchell can't guard Bean. If we can take advantage of that matchup and Bean can get 20 or so points and keep Mitchell in check, the Aggies will win. I am confident Anthony can handle Shakel and Queta/Mensah will cancel each other out. Bean needs to play well and Anthony/Worsester need to take care of the ball and hit shots when they are open. The key is Bean, though.

slcagg wrote:

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 9:01 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:55 am

brownjeans wrote: ↑

January 10th, 2021, 8:42 am

I wonder if coach Smith will have Anthony defend Mitchell.

Is anthony strong enough to guard mitchell? I would worry he would bully his way to the rim and shoot a lot of free throws.

I remember earlier Smith saying Anthony could guard four positions. It'd be worth a shot. Anthony is our best defender.

I actually think this would be a good matchup. Anthony is really strong, remember gary wanted him as a linebacker . However if you do that you put Justin bean on the wing on defense and away from rebounding. Granted Mitchell plays the wing as well. Their starters are their center, Mitchell at the 4 and then three guards really. We did have Alphonso guarding schackel in the mw tournament last year so maybe that is who bean guards.

I do remember Schakel trying to guard Anderson, it did not go well for Schakel. Anderson just backed him down pretty easy and went up strong for easy layups and some easy fouls on Schakel. If they make the mistake of putting Schakel on Anderson again, we should take advantage of that.


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Opening line: USU -2.5