  Uranium dipnictide USb$_2$ reflects enigmatic properties posing a substantial
challenge for a microscopic modeling. Among others, it develops a nonstandard
antiferromagnetic order of a $\uparrow\downarrow\downarrow\uparrow$-type along
[001] crystallographic direction, and under pressure it undergoes transition to
the ferromagnetic phase. Here we propose a minimal low-energy model of USb$_2$
which, as we demonstrate at the mean-field level, accommodates physical
mechanism for mentioned observations. Relying on the obtained results we also
comment on the features of magnetism observed in other U-based compounds:
UAs$_2$, UBi$_2$, UAsSe, URh$_x$Ir$_{1-x}$Ge and UGe$_2$.
