LOGAN, Utah-Tuesday, Utah State men’s basketball coach Craig Smith was named as the District VIII Coach of the year per an announcement from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
Additionally, Aggies junior guard Sam Merrill and freshman center Neemias Queta were recognized as two of the 10 players on the all-district team by the USBWA.
District VIII represents schools in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Montana.
Smith led the Aggies to a 25-6 record, the most wins for a first-year coach in program history.
Merrill posted 21 points and 4.2 assists per game, leading the Aggies in each of those categories.
Queta, a Portuguese national, set a school record with 73 blocks and recorded a Mountain West-conference record six blocks against Fresno State January 9.
Queta led the conference in field goal percentage (63.9 percent) and blocks per game (2.4 blocks).
The Aggies will play the winner of the New Mexico-Wyoming game in the conference tournament quarterfinals Thursday evening.
Additionally, BYU junior forward Yoeli Childs was named to the all-district team as he was an all-West Coast Conference first-team honoree as well.
Childs averaged 21.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1 block per game for the Cougars.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, Smith was also named as the Mountain West Conference coach of the year and Merrill the conference player of the year.
Queta, in turn, was named as both the conference’s defensive player of the year and freshman of the year.
