BOISE, Idaho-Saturday, Utah State men’s basketball (14-5, 3-3 in Mountain West play) visits Boise State (11-8, 3-4 in Mountain West play) as the Mountain West conference season ensues for both squads at Extramile Arena.
The Aggies are led by head coach Craig Smith who is 42-12 (.778) at Utah State and 121-67 (.644) as a collegiate head coach.
The Aggies have experienced futility as they have lost three out of their last four games.
Utah State, however, is third nationally in total rebounds (785), tied for fifth nationally in total assists with Virginia Military (318), tied for 12th nationally in total assists per game with Virginia Military (16.7 assists per game), tied for 14th nationally in rebound margin per game with UNLV (+8) and 17th nationally in scoring margin (+13).
The Aggies score 78.3 points per game, ranking them 37th nationally in scoring offense.
Senior guard Sam Merrill (16.9 points, 4.9 rebounds per game), sophomore forward Justin Bean (12.8 points, 10.3 rebounds per game, 9th nationally with 196 total rebounds, a team-best 21 blocked shots), sophomore center, Portuguese national Neemias Queta (11.1 points, 6.3 rebounds per game), sophomore guard Brock Miller (10.1 points per game) and junior forward Alphonso Anderson (10.1 points per game) all score in double figures on-average for the Aggies.
Portuguese national, senior guard Diogo Brito, has a team-best 34 steals and junior guard Abel Porter has 74 assists to lead the Aggies.
Utah State surrenders 64.4 points per game as the Aggies rank 73rd nationally in scoring defense.
The Broncos are coached by Leon Rice who is 189-124 (.604) in his 10th season at the helm of the Boise State program.
Boise State scores 77.4 points per game as the Broncos rank 49th nationally in scoring offense.
Redshirt junior guard Derrick Alston Jr. (19.5 points, 5.4 rebounds per game, a team-best 62 assists) is the Broncos’ best all-around player.
Senior guard Justinian Jessup (14.8 points, 4.2 rebounds per game, team bests in steals [24] and blocked shots [12]), Canadian national, junior forward Abu Kigab (14 points, 4.3 rebounds per game) and senior forward RJ Williams (11.8 points, a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game) all score in double figures on-average as well for the Broncos.
The Broncos surrender 71.1 points per game as Boise State ranks 227th nationally in scoring defense.
The Aggies lead the Broncos 33-15 all-time.
