Three Aggies Earn Mountain West Conference Honors
Mar 3, 2020, 11:50 AM
(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State Aggies had three players receive All-Mountain West Conference honors ahead of the MW Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The former Mountain West Player of the Year Sam Merrill was named first team All-Conference for the second straight season. As a sophomore in 2018, Merrill was named to the third team.
Merrill is averaging 18.8 points, 4 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game through the regular season as a senior.
Sophomore center Neemias Queta was named second team All-Mountain West despite missing a significant amount of games earlier in the year due to a knee injury. Also, the big man was received Mountain West All-Defensive team honors. Queta received the 2019 Defensive Player and Freshman of the Year awards and was also named second team All-Conference last season.
5️⃣ | @smerrill05
First Team All-Mountain West ☑️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/ju4IBwSjGc
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 3, 2020
Queta finished the regular season averaging 12.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per contest.
2️⃣3️⃣ | @nemi1599
Second Team All-Mountain West ☑️
Mountain West All-Defensive Team ☑️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/NutDMJvkNe— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 3, 2020
Redshirt sophomore forward Justin Bean was named third team All-Mountain West and received All-Defensive team honors. Bean has recorded 12.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season.
Utah State finished the regular season with a 23-8 overall record and a 12-6 mark in conference play. They received the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. The Aggies will play on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of San Jose State and New Mexico. The Lobos and Spartans will square off in their first round matchup on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
The Aggies’ quarterfinal game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
3️⃣4️⃣ | @justinbean12
Third Team All-Mountain West ☑️
Mountain West All-Defensive Team ☑️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/X6tGlQrBs8— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 3, 2020
San Diego State took three of the six individual awards with guard Malachi Flynn earning the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Brian Dutcher was named Mountain West Coach of the Year.
Colorado State guard Isaiah Stevens received the conference Freshman of the Year award, Nevada’s Jalen Harris is the Newcomer of the Year and Nisre Zouzoua from Nevada was named Sixth Man of the Year.