BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Craig Smith insisted that he didn’t want to come across as a “name dropper,” but he thought it relevant to mention during a virtual press conference on Thursday that he had bumped into Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon on a hotel elevator earlier in the day.
“He said, ‘Who’s your draw?’ And I told him, ‘Texas Tech,’” Utah State’s head coach recalled. “And he said, ‘Oh, I’m so glad we don’t have to play those guys.’
“Obviously, everyone around the country knows how hard (the Red Raiders) play. And how hard they are to score on. And how disciplined they are. So, we’re going to have our work cut out for us, and it’s going to be a tight battle and you have to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.”
Friday’s game in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament between the 11th-seeded Aggies (20-8) and the sixth-seeded Red Raiders (17-10) certainly figures to be the kind of defensive battle at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall that legendary Indiana coach Bobby Knight would surely appreciate. Currently ranked No. 21 in the county in both national polls, Texas Tech led the Big 12 in scoring defense at 63.4 points per game, very similar to Utah State’s 62.4 ppg average this season.
The Aggies finished second in the Mountain West in scoring defense, just behind conference champion San Diego State (60.6 ppg), a team that Smith said reminds him a lot of the Red Raiders, and no just because of their similar color schemes.
“I would say that San Diego State is the closest team to Texas Tech that we played, just with their athleticism and how good they are, period. But more specifically, how good they are on the defensive end,” Smith noted. “And it shows. Both of those teams are among the Top 25 programs in the country.”
The good news is the Aggies took two of three games from the Aztecs this season. The bad news is, the two games they won were in Logan while Mountain West Player of the Year was dealing with an injury, while the loss came last Saturday night in the championship game of the MW tourney. Utah State really struggled to score in the 68-57 loss, shooting just 37.3% as a team, including 3 of 13 from 3-point range, and turning the ball over 16 times — the exact number of turnovers the Texas Tech defense is averaging this season.
“The initial scout is take a lot of Tylenol, because they’re a headache, for sure,” Smith said of the Red Raiders. “They’re obviously a very, very good team. They’re very well coached — Coach (Chris) Beard does a heck of a job along with their entire staff — and they’re very disciplined, they’re very tough minded, and they play incredibly hard.”
Now in his sixth season in Lubbock, Beard has carried on some of the defensive savvy and intensity that he learned while serving as an assistant at Texas Tech under Knight and Knight’s son, Pat. Beard is 111-54 in his tenure, including an 8-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament that includes a trip to the Elite Eight in 2018 and a heartbreaking, overtime loss to Virginia in the 2019 championship game.
Offensively, the Red Raiders have benefitted greatly this season from the addition of guard Mac McClung, a transfer from Georgetown who is averaging 15.7 ppg as a junior. Sophomore guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (12.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg) has also had a big year offensively, while two more guards, Kyler Edwards (10.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.7 apg) and Kevin McCullar (1.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.9 spg) are also expected to start Friday’s game, along with 6-foot-7 forward Marcus Santos-Silva (8.5 ppg 6.5 rpg).
Although the Aggies run quite a few set plays while the Red Raiders run mostly motion offense, Smith said he sees “a lot of similarities” between the two teams as they both run a “hybrid” offense.
“Honestly, we compare them to us on the offensive end,” Smith replied when asked which Mountain West team is most similar offensively to the Red Raiders. “They’re very balanced; you have four guys averaging 10 points or more on the year. And we’re very balanced as a team. ...
“Maybe the personnel isn’t exactly the same. I mean they have some higher-level athletes up and down their lineup than we do, as you would expect. But when it comes to sheer style of play, I would compare them to us.”
One place the Aggies seem sure to try to take advantage is in the post with junior center Neemias Queta, who is averaging 15.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while racking up a school record 90 blocks. So Smith is anticipating a lot of double teams down low, which means Queta, who has developed into a very good passer, is going to be looking for Aggie sharpshooters like Brock Miller (55 3-pointers), Steven Ashworth (31 3-pointers) and Rollie Worster (21 3-pointers) to knock down some shots and open up the floor, something they were unable to do against San Diego State last week.
“It’s going to have to be a multilayered plan, and different people on our roster are going to have to contribute to that plan,” Beard said when asked about defending Queta. “It’s not like we can just tell someone to go guard him one on one. That’s not going to happen. So, we’re going to have to do some thing team defense-wise and change up some looks. And just try and do the best we can.
“He’s a fabulous player, and he’s deserving of all of the attention he gets. His rebounding, scoring and shot-blocking and his ability to get assists and pass the ball are special.”
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3s3v03Q
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