USU vs. San Diego State Postgame | Craig Smith

That's a great win for the Aggies

San Diego State obviously
is a very good team

and they've had some marquee wins
this year.

And so they're a veteran team.

They're excellent

defensively like you like everybody saw
it was a bit of a rock fight out there.

It was hard for anyone to get scores and
that's what we said coming into the game.

When you get opportunities
and clean opportunities,

you got to take advantage
of that situation.

I thought we defended
at a very high level, as did they,

but to be able to hold a team like
that to 45 points

and in that kind of shooting percentage,

I thought our guys did an excellent job
of really communicating and-

and being on point, there's a lot
that goes into this with our scouts

and they run a lot of different things and
I thought our guys handled it very well.

But guys, they're good.
I mean, it was just so hard to score

on them.

And, you know,

they know every play that we have
and we know every play that they have.

And y'all saw even the new stats
that we've that they haven't seen,

you know, they have a
or that we've hardly ever run.

So anytime you can beat San Diego State

that's a- it's a very good win.

We have a lot of great production.

I thought our bench was very, very good.

I thought Alphonso Anderson

that that stretch late in the first half.

He had a couple of big threes
for us on the right wing

where our guys found him
and he rhythmed into them

I thought Sean Bair-,
you know, Bairstow hit a big three for us.

Ashworth had- had great pace and
Trevin does what Trevin does,

so I thought our bench was very good.

Brock Miller I thought,
brought a great spark to us.

You know, he ends up with what, 16,

you know, four for ten from the three
and just had a great look too.

He had a great look to him all week

where you felt like
he was going to have a good game.

And then Queta, I thought was-
was very, very good.

I mean, 16 rebounds, 14 points.

So got to get better, though.

Too many turnovers,
too much sloppy play on the offensive end.

And part- a big part of that is that them
that is how they defend.

But we've got to be better
with that stuff.

We got to be sharper in some of our sets
because

we're going to need it here
in about 36 hours or so.

Well,
you know, watching the film, you know,

because they're just so good defensively,
we need to be more connected on offense.

Like I said, I mean, 15 assists
a pretty good number against a team

like this and a low possession game,
but too many, way too many turnovers.

But, you know,
I felt like we were a good defensive team

and, you know, I know some of our scores
have been a little bit lopsided, but

I guess the thing
I don't know if I learned it,

but I was able to see it
against a really good team.

Just the grittiness that we have,
you know,

our ability to play connected

with some of our inexperienced guys.

You don't always know
we're starting to get a feel for what

to expect on a night to night basis
cause we see it.

We're starting
to see consistency in practice

and that's carrying over into the games.

So we're starting to have a lot better
feel for what

we're going to get out of each guy
and still kind of mixing up some

some lineups to see what is successful,
you know,

but not for the team,
but also for chemistry for each other. So

So anyway,
I don't know if I have an exact answer.

Hopefully I'll have more for ya

watching film,
but we were able to finish the deal,

you know, against a high level opponent.

And of course it helps being at home
and, you know, our fans, I thought

even though it's a limited number,
that certainly helps and brings

a lot of energy to your team.

So that was exciting to see.

Yeah.

And not only is it in 36 hours
and the same team, it's a-

it's a- really it's
two really good teams going at it and

you know, it's it's gonna be it's gonna
every time we play each other.

It's a physical game, you know, it doesn't
matter who the officials are. It's

it's we we have a little bit of it's
big boy basketball, you know what I mean?

And so you just kind of figure it out.

You know,
we only shot two free throws

tonight and
we're a team that gets to the line a lot.

And that's not
every game has its own entity.

You know,

when you have good defensive players,
how many times do we get to the rim?

And the Mensah is there,
you know, erasing it.

And we did the same, Queta does
the same thing,

you know, and Doris
does as well on our end.

So, you know,
there are only two free throws.

Were off of technical, the technical. So

it's difficult, but it is what it is.

I think, you know,
there's you start learning.

It's our fourth time going through it now,

so our guys have some experience with it,
although not the 7:00 game

that at night or whatever time it is.

And then you play at 11:30 in the morning.

So pregames at, pregame meals at 7:30 a.m.

You know, I'm not sure-
our guys are on Christmas break.

I'm not sure they've seen 7:30 a.m.

for the last three to four weeks.

You just get to know your guys, right?

And when you spend as much time
as we do as a coaching staff with, you're

with your guys and they spend as much time

with each other
and they know and, you know, coaches,

you know, I don't want to say mood or
what kind of vibe, but he just had a look.

And I would say that especially about our
our veteran guys this week

just had a really good
look to him and Brock

I don't, I don't know how to explain it,
but I know it when I see it with him.

He just the way he carries

himself, the way his eyes look, the way
he just he had vigor again, you know,

I don't mean again, like he hasn't had it,
but he's been playing very determined.

And he just had a really good look to him.

And he's been shooting it well in practice
and been practicing really well.

It's not an accident,
when guys practice well, they play well.

And I know it's common sense and I know
coaches say that all the time,

but it's the facts.

What you do in practice carries
over to games, and it's also

how you build trust in a coaching staff
and within your teammates.

So he just had a great look to him.

I thought he played really-

played really well on the offensive end,
but he might even been better defensively.

Yeah, that's a great question.
Those two are really good.

Those guys are good players and you know,
they're they're true freshmen and,

you know, you throw them out there
at the point guard spot and

but we trust them and that's
a hard thing to find for true freshmen

and they're both manning it,
you know, they're both so their

but what I like
is they're just two different players

and they both bring incredible traits
to the table.

And it starts
just with a winner's mentality.

They don't care about their stat line,
they don't care about any of that.

They just want to win.

And we played them together tonight.

We played them together some as well.

And we typically do
maybe need to do it more to be honest.

But they both

really what's the right word?

They both play off

each other's strengths, so to speak,
and they have a different change of pace.

So, you know, Raleigh does this now.

You got Stephen in.

He brings a different kind of pace
to the game and then you take Stephen out

and Raleigh brings
a different kind of pace.

So we try to do some different things,
kind of a different team depending on

who's on the floor.

And I think that's what good teams have.

They're able to have not just one,
the same player all the way around

and so and then you throw in
the third, you know,

Marco Anthony plays some point as well.

And we feel confident with him
bringing the ball up.

Certainly it's more Rollie and Steven,
but they have

Marco as a guy
that can be kind of a secondary

secondary primary ball handler,
if that makes sense, really helps us.

And that's been a great addition,

certainly, and a great strength,
I think, of our team.

[Offscreen Male]
and respect

I mean, that's a pretty neat deal.

I haven't thought about it a lot.

But listen, when you have CBS Sports
coming into the spectrum

for a nationally televised
game on a Saturday after-

you know, on a Saturday morning, late
late morning, early afternoon,

you know, right before the NFL playoffs
start, like that is prime time.

And I think that speaks wonders to

certainly our opponent, San Diego
State, is nationally recognized.

And what we've been able to do here
the last two years,

that's quite an accomplishment.

You got Clark Kellogg coming in here
and who does the Final four

and in the whole thing.

And, you know, does it impact winning? No.

Is that great promotion
for our program?

Absolutely. And it helps in every walk.

I mean, whether it's recruiting,
whether it's for your fan base,

certainly, you know, everybody is.

Well, that's an Aggie.

It's a big time

deal. So we're excited about it.

It's great exposure for our program.

Now we've got to find a way to
to somehow beat these guys again.

You know, they had the nation's longest

winning streak, road
winning streak coming into the game.

So it is difficult to beat these guys.

And you saw that tonight.

And now we got to try to find
a way to play well again here in 36 hours.

[Crowd]
Utah State