Re-watching USU basketball games for some upcoming @UtahStatesman content. Figured I'd throw out my thoughts with video clips because I'm bored and haven't been active on Twitter much.

First up is Nov. 5 vs Montana State, the season opener.

Some key players with their stats from the night

USU
Sam Merrill - 28 pts, 17/18 FTs
Justin Bean - 13 pts, 10 reb
Alphonso Anderson - 13 pts (18 min), 6 reb, 8/8 FTs

MSU
Harald Frey - 34 pts, 6/10 3pt, 6 reb, 5 ast
Jubrile Belo - 12 pts, 9 reb

For some reason it felt like Brock Miller was money on his first 3-point attempt of the game all season and then was a sub-30% shooter from deep the rest of the time.

He's going to have to step up big time next season because the team is lacking veteran players who can shoot.

I watched this clip of Merrill slipping two screens and denying a dribble-hand-off about 10 times. It's not the most dominant defensive play, but I think it shows the basketball IQ and hustle Merrill played with all the time. It's also cool because it's hard to catch these live.

Justin Bean has a knack for slipping his man and finding himself open down low. This is just one example and it's also a nice example of Merrill's vision to spot this good opportunity.

Merrill will never be known for his dribble moves, but this hesitation was nice and I wish he would have tried it out a bit more. It's a really nice counter to his usual move set off screens and it froze the hedge defense here.

Still one of the filthier steals I've ever seen.

When I mention Sean Bairstow's point guard potential, I think of this play. I love how he see's Merrill's cut developing and goes for the pass. As you can see by the result, however, it's also why I'm also quick to clarify he's got a lot of room to grow as a play-maker.

I never went back to look at it at the time, but here's the play where Justin Bean got his teeth bashed in and a jump to where you can see the bloody result which later required oral surgery to repair.

With the game closer than fans were expecting, this seeming pick-six silenced the crowd for a moment with the prospect that MSU would take the lead again. Then the guy missed the dunk and it injected energy back into the crowd.

It was also just really funny.

Time and time again, Abel Porter came through as an unexpected scoring punch when USU needed a steadying influence. In this game, he went on a 5-0 run himself to give USU a cushion when the team needed it and then padded it with this lob to Bean.

Harald Frey hit some backbreaking 3's in the second half but they were built on by easy first-half looks like this one.

One small area I hope to see big improvements in is Bean's finishing around the rim. He missed a few too many of these close, very make-able, layups during the season.

Coaches talk about small plays and "little things" that matter and here's one. "Sam Merrill gets rebound" is a small thing but in context of this game, with USU not making any shots for several minutes and MSU on a run to maybe tie or take the lead at half, this was a big thing.

This play shows two moves Merrill put into his bag of tricks for his senior year that expanded his on-ball game. These two being splitting the defense on a screen and the step-back jumper. The latter of those two was a huge addition that helped him adjust during a tough season.

This is one of those threes I mentioned earlier. Frey likely doesn't take this, or make it, if he wasn't already doing well from the first half.

I mean, seriously? This was less than a minute later.

This point in the game might have been one of the more exciting from a basketball perspective with Merrill draining this to respond to Frey's two quick triples.

Also I cut out half of the part where Merrill runs 70 feet around screens to get this open look to begin with.

I can't believe I forgot to put this in earlier, but here's Kuba just playing with Montana State at the end of the first half.

Things were getting real midway through the second as USU went down multiple times. So here's Abel Porter doing his thing with a pass to Diogo Brito, the same play that previously saw Bean lay it in.

Alphonso Anderson scored once prior to these free throws (a 3-pointer in the first half). He finished 8-for-8 on free throws with 13 points in 18 minutes. Big, steadying presence in a volatile season opener.

A lot to love here on a stop. Frey wants to switch onto Miller, the weaker defender. Porter doubles to make Frey pick up his dribble. Merrill plays chicken with Frey and forces the conservative pass, Porter recovers to his man and the play ends with low % shooter missing a 3.

Utah State shot 45 free throws in this game so here's more of Anderson at the line (he's at the line because he got fouled on the rebound he made on the last play from the last play on this thread).