Utah State head coach
Craig Smith addressed the media on Monday in preparation of the Aggies' regular season finale at Colorado State on Tuesday, March 5. The complete transcript can be found below.
On Colorado State:
"A huge game for the Aggies coming up against Colorado State. We're coming off an emotional week, a fantastic week, sweeping San Diego State and Nevada, splitting the series with both of those guys. Now the Aggies are in first place by half a game. Colorado State is playing arguably their best basketball of the year, winning three of their last four. It's been quite some time since we played them, much like Nevada. When we played them last time, it was game six for us, we jumped up to 4-2 when we took care of them. They're balanced. They've had a couple of guys injured the last couple of games, so have played basically six guys heavy minutes.
"They're led by Nico Carvacho who is leading the country in rebounding. Obviously he's a really good player. He's a veteran guy, averaging 18 points a game and 13.6 rebounds a game in Mountain West play. Those are some phenomenal numbers. He's big, strong, super physical, really good touch around the basket. He's really quick into his moves. He's so much quicker than any other big guy I can recall, getting to his moves. He's almost got a mini hook shot/floater, it's very difficult to guard. We did a great job last time holding him to 12 points. J.D. Paige is a fifth-year senior for them. He's an electric guard with good size that can score in a lot of different ways. He's got a great pull-up game and knows how to get fouled, averaging 14.1 points per game. After that, they're really balanced. They have five guys averaging between 9.1 and 7.8 points. That seems to be kind of a theme. Paige and Carvacho really score for them, then depending on the night, they have a different guy that can get the hot hand. There are two freshmen that play a lot of minutes. Adam Thistlewood shoots the three very, very well and Kendle Moore is a jet for them. They have some guards that are incredibly fast and quick-twitch, they put a lot of pressure on you getting up and down the floor. They put a lot of pressure on you with their transition. They're very sharp with their stuff and they space the floor well. They put you in some tough spots with their spacing, especially when you have a guy like Carvacho that one-on-one is really good. Defensively, they're going to play almost all man, they'll throw a little bit of zone in there. There's some similarities to both programs in terms of how they play.
"It will be a great test for us. Going in there on a quick turnaround again, two days of prep, plus flying there, after such a physical, rugged game against Nevada, and the emotional piece of that that you have to manage. It's going to be a great test of our maturity how we come out both mentally and physically. We know what's at stake, we're playing for a lot of things. If we take care of business and win the game, we're Mountain West champs, and that's been our goal since day one."
On getting a week off before the Mountain West Championships:
"There are only two teams that haven't had their second bye yet – us and UNLV. Everything you've got in the gas tank, throw it out there, then we don't play again for nine days, since we'll be the one or two seed. We'll take a couple of days off and regroup. It feels like we've been going non-stop for a long time. We've shortened our lineup a bit so some guys just need to rest their legs and mentally recharge before we head into the conference tournament."
On the health of the team after the Nevada game:
"It was such a physical game.
Justin Bean just gives everything he's got all the time, Sam (Merrill) is always on the floor anyway. You could argue that a guy like Neemias (Queta) should be as fresh as he's been all year, coming off his sickness at Boise State, didn't get a lot of minutes against San Diego State and only played 19 minutes the other night. Our guards have been logging a bunch of minutes. All-in-all our guys look good. We didn't do a whole lot yesterday, we got together and watched film and did some light stuff on the floor. Today we had a very sharp practice, I was excited with how we practiced today.
"You coach for 23 years and you're just always guarded. That's a big part of the job, reading your team and seeing how they are mentally and physically. It's know when to really push them and when to pull the reins back. These guys aren't your normal team, in a positive way. It's been very rare that we aren't ready to go. You're so guarded for 22 years, you always have some special teams in between there, but these guys have always defied the odds in such a positive manner.
"This will be the ultimate test in so many ways. This is a very difficult game, because they're playing well and they're very good at home. According to KenPom, they have the 34th-best home court advantage in the country, meaning they haven't always been great on the road, but their numbers are much better at home. That's typical, I would say, but 34th in the country is a pretty substantial number with however they use their metrics. They beat up Fresno State pretty good three weeks ago. They play with a lot more confidence. They lose at Wyoming, then destroy them at home. They lose by 40 at Nevada, then it's a three-point game with 10 minutes to play against Nevada at home. We just have to be sharp and execute our stuff to give ourselves a chance to win down the stretch."
On the CSU offensive efficiency, especially in the game in Logan:
"Their coach and I coached for five years on the same staff at Colorado State, so he knows how I am and I know how he is. They work on offense a lot. They're a good offensive team, they're sharp at executing their stuff. The Thistlewood kid is a 4-man that can really shoot it, he goes 4-for-8 from the three. When we played them last time, Hyron Edwards was just getting eligible to play and he played really well. He had 14 on us, going 3-for-3 from the three. They made 10 threes on us, going 10-for-24 from the three. So not only do they shoot 45 percent for the game, but their 3-point percentages were fairly good, and they got fouled. We have to shore that thing up. The key was that we shot really well from three, we went 12-for-25, shot 54 percent. That was the difference. That was one of our better offensive games this season with 23 assists to 13 turnovers."
On Queta's motivation against CSU in the last game:
"He was very motivated. Neemi is a guy with great pride. He knows how good Carvacho is. He's going to be ready to play. He knew what was going on that way. I think that was the game Neemi got a steal and went coast-to-coast. Our whole team was really motivated. That was a pivotal point in our season. We started out league play 1-2. We had just won at Wyoming to go 2-2, won at San José State to go to 3-2. That was a swing game, big-time. You win that game you're 4-2, and you're two games above .500, have twice as many league wins as losses. You lost that game, you're 3-3. They would have been tied with us. That was a big-time swing game. Offensively, we played outstanding and Neemi was really good."
On Carvacho knowing how he played against USU and the year he has had:
"It still says something that he had a double-double at 12 and 10 with three offensive boards. But Neemi had 18 and 11. We all knew Neemi, but he was still an up-and-comer at that time. He's certainly grown as a player and his name has gotten out there, but it's going to be a battle between two of the best bigs in the conference for sure, and two really good players in the country."
On Sam Merrill being named Mountain West Player of the Week:
"First of all, it's well-deserved. He's Steady Eddie right? He never ceases to amaze you and he's just so unassuming in how he does his thing. He's averaging 20 a game. It's the quietest 20, It's so quiet how he does it. It's not just that, but how he's distributing the ball. He's so unselfish and so efficient in everything he does. He has played three-straight games now, where he hasn't come out for one second. He's so smart about it and understands when to go. He's guarding the other team's best offensive player typically, most games. This is well overdue and well-deserved. The biggest thing is that you get those awards when your team does well. Our team has done well all year, but when you get signature wins against San Diego State, who has won the most Mountain West championships in men's basketball, then beating the No. 12 team in the country. It's funny how you win, and the accolades follow. He'll never bring that stuff up, we never talk about individual awards, but every guy in our program and every Aggie fan would agree that it's well-deserved."
