LOGAN – Nevada knew he could finally score in the state of Utah as he entered the penultimate week of the regular season with a trip to Cache Valley.
What the Wolf Pack couldn’t do was bounce back.
Thanks to Neemias Queta and Justin Bean, the Aggies made sure.
Queta added 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists; and Justin Bean added 17 points, 13 rebounds and four assists to help the state of Utah complete the two-game throw of the Pack Wolf, 87-66, Sunday night at Logan’s Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum.
The Aggies picked up 30 rebounds on Nevada’s 33 missed shots and added 17 offensive boards, led by six from Queta and Bean each. Even the 7-foot Portuguese center admitted that Bean was the key to this offensive dominance.
“Bean is just a player who works hard and it’s very hard to stop him,” Queta said. “Sometimes when I have to lock it out of practice, I even struggle to do it.
“He’s very important to us, and he just makes this tough guy play so it’s a really good experience to play with him.”
Bean’s double-double was the sixth of the season in the state of Utah and the 23rd of his career after winning 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 75-72 victory over the Wolf Pack on Friday. His 13 maximum rebounds of the season broke the tie for the fifth most games with double-digit boards in Aggie’s basketball history with Bob Lauriski (1971-73) and Wayne Estes (1963-65).
💪 @ justinbean34 leaving everything on track for @USUBasketballpic.twitter.com/DP9ERMI05A
– FOX University Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 1, 2021
Now Bean is tied with Mike Santos (1975-78) in the fourth double-digit bounce games in school history.
“He’s gotten huge offensive rebounds today and when he’s shooting shots like that, it’s fun to be on the court,” Utah State senior Alphonso Anderson said of Bean. “We’re trying to get some mojo into the yard.”
Queta, of course, was not bad himself. The junior NBA player who tied his career with six assists got his eleventh double of the season, the 25th of his career, and moved to Bean’s place on the two-digit rebound list. all the time, now the sixth most general – and counted his fifth career game with a double-double in the same game as Bean.
Marco Anthony scored 11 points and three assists for the state of Utah (16-7, 13-4 MW), and Anderson added 12 points for the Aggies, scoring in double figures for only the sixth time this season as a native of Tacoma, Washington. celebrated the Major Day with a rare start.
The state of Utah has a home game left, a makeup date with Wyoming on Thursday that was added late due to a cancellation of the series by COVID-19, but chose to hold his senior class on Sunday.
“I put in a lot of work, I work a lot in practice and it was exciting,” Anderson said. “When he told me, he was very excited. But that doesn’t mean the job is over.
“I just keep working hard, so I can keep winning games.”
Desmond Cambridge scored 13 points and four rebounds for Nevada (14-9), who fell three games behind Aggies’ third-place finish in Mountain West with a 9-7 record and a week for the Mountain West Tournament. Las Vegas.
After a slow start, Utah State finished with a 15-2 run to advance 23-10 to Anderson’s position with 10:08 left in the half.
The Aggies offense clicked, despite firing just 1 of 7 from a 3-point distance. But more importantly, nothing worked for Nevada, who opened the game just 4 of 13 from the field and didn’t pick up an offensive rebound in the first half.
Queta scored eight points, six rebounds and a block in just nine minutes as the Aggies advanced the score to 15, 25-10 and the state of Utah overcame the Pack 23-15 while assisting first the 11 of 13 -half cubes en route to a 39-23 lead at the break. The Wolf Pack finished the break at halftime, but threw a 47-24 rebound deficit that kept the visitors at bay for most of the half.
the edge is said to continue to tremble👀
⚡️ @ nemi1599#AggiesAllTheWaypic.twitter.com/LN83KMXmMU
– USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 1, 2021
“We really have to close the defense,” Anderson said. “When a team falls, it’s important to give it a few minutes, either you give it life or you take it out.
“We knew we had to be better defensively (than Friday) … and after that downtime, I think we really got together offensively and defensively.”
Returning from a lower leg injury that kept him out for three weeks, Rollie Worster returned to training for the Aggies. The first year didn’t start, but he dropped a triple with just under three minutes left in the first half to get his first cube since Feb. 4 at Fresno State.
Worster finished with 3 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 14 minutes.
“From day one, Rollie was a talented guy with moxie, tremendous toughness and calm as a player, for any age let alone a true freshman,” said Utah state coach Craig Smith . “I thought you could hear him tonight. All our guys believe in him; he’s an excellent defensive player, and he really missed him on the defensive end of the field, especially with the latest issue of Brock (Miller ).
“Brock is sick, and I think you’ll be able to see him tonight. So I thought it would be nice to have him (Worster) again.”
Welcome back @ rworster24‼ ️#AggiesAllTheWaypic.twitter.com/y8F4IzQjZU
– USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 1, 2021
The state of Utah kept its foot off the gas during the break, largely due to the rebound. Nevada had just one offensive board in the first eight minutes of the half, and shot just 6 of 13 from the field to keep Aggies in the lead despite shooting only 31.3% of the field in the first half. .
The state of Utah led up to 26 points in a game that lasted less than 51 seconds, and moved the ball with 22 assists in 29 field goals scored.
The Aggies shot just 4 of 22 from a 3-point distance, but forced 19 losses with 11 steals, outscored Wolf Pack 42-24 in the paint and added 24 second-chance points from 17 offensive rebounds.
“I never thought we really started,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said. “We were absolutely destroyed in the glass and in the transition. These were the two most important keys to this game, and there they touched us very badly.”
The Aggies did a lot of “hard-type plays,” Smith said. And few were tougher than Bean.
“We eliminated the loss,” added Aggie’s third-year coach. “I thought we did a really good job of taking care of the ball and playing at a great pace that way.
“We didn’t shoot it great; the other night we had 11 for 21, but tonight we probably forced some three … and we took some out of pace. But we did a lot of quick performances, we got a lot of balls, they went forced 19 changes and they were really active on the ball “.