How to watch, projected starters, injuries – Cache Valley Daily


LOGAN – After a gut-punch of a loss to San Diego State on Wednesday, Utah State returns to action with a road matchup with San Jose State. The Aggies defeated the Spartans in a nail-biter 75-74 game on Jan. 21. Max Shulga hit a go-ahead free throw with seconds remaining to seal the win for USU.

How to watch

  • Tip-off: 8 p.m. MT



  • Location: Provident Credit Union Event Center | San Jose, CA



  • TV Broadcast: CBS Sports Network



  • Aggie GameDay Coverage on KVNU (102.1 FM/610 AM & KVNU mobile app): 7 p.m. MT



  • KVNU Aggie Call (102.1 FM/610 AM, KVNU mobile app): Immediately after game ends

Injuries

Utah State

G – Rylan Jones (Undisclosed) – OUT

Jones has missed the last nine games with an undisclosed upper-body injury. No timetable has been provided for a return.

San Jose State

G – Myron Amey Jr. (Ankle) – OUT

F – Max Allen (Undisclosed) – OUT

Projected Starters

Utah State (19-6, 8-4, 4th in MW)

  • G – Steven Ashworth (6-1, Jr.) – 16.0 points | 3.3 rebounds | 4.6 assists



  • G – Max Shulga (6-4, Jr.) – 11.2 points | 4.4 rebounds | 4.0 assists



  • G/F – Sean Bairstow (6-8, Sr.) – 11.0 points | 4.6 rebounds | 2.7 assists



  • F – Taylor Funk (6-9, Gr.) – 14.2 points | 5.6 rebounds | 1.9 assists



  • C – Trevin Dorius (7-0, Sr.) – 5.6 points | 3.6 rebounds | 0.2 assists



  • 6th Man – Dan Akin (6-9, Gr.) – 12.3 points | 7.2 rebounds | 0.8 assists

San Jose State (14-10, 5-6, 6th in MW)

  • G – Alvaro Cardenas (6-0, So.) – 10.3 points | 2.7 rebounds | 3.3 assists



  • G – Omari Moore (6-6, Jr.) – 16.7 points | 4.9 rebounds | 5.0 assists



  • F – Trey Anderson (6-6, Jr.) – 6.0 points | 2.5 rebounds | 1.0 assists



  • F – Sage Tolbert (6-8, Jr.) – 8.9 points | 7.5 rebounds | 1.0 assists



  • F/C – Ibrahima Diallo (6-10, Jr.) – 6.3 points | 5.5 rebounds | 0.6 assists

Team Statistical Ranks

Stats and ratings are from Basketball Reference (except the NET ranking). All ranks are out of 363 Division I teams.

Utah State

  • Pace – 69.3 (134th)



  • Offensive Rating – 114.3 (12th)



  • Defensive Rating – 102.0 (216th)



  • Field Goal % – 48.3 (22nd)



  • 3-point % – 41.4 (1st)



  • Rebounding % – 53.1 (55th)



  • NET Rank – 33rd

San Jose State

  • Pace – 63.5 (350th)



  • Offensive Rating – 108.9 (122nd)



  • Defensive Rating – 103.8 (261st)



  • Field Goal % – 45.1 (112th)



  • 3-point % – 34.0 (195th)



  • Rebounding % – 55.9 (7th)



  • NET Rank – 110th

Summary

Utah State’s last matchup with San Jose State was nearly an upset for the Spartans who exploited a few of the Aggies weaknesses. SJSU started off incredibly hot from three (or at least two players, Alvaro Cardenas and Tibet Gorener were hot from three) and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds throughout the game.

Those two things in particular, rebounding and 3-point defense, are things the Aggies must be mindful of against San Jose State. And they’ve also got to execute well on offense and not get lucky the way USU did at times back in January.

“We made some hard shots. We can’t rely on that again in this particular game,” Aggies head coach Ryan Odom said. “We’ve got to execute better. Defensively, we’ve got to make things as hard as we can on (Omari) Moore and not allow their bigs to get behind us in pick and roll and come up with key rebounds for them, because they’re really tough when they’re on the glass.”

Fans who watched the first game will be very familiar with Omari Moore, the Spartans star player. He had a solid game against the Aggies, albeit slightly inefficient with his 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting. But Moore added eight assists in that game, showcasing a great passing talent for a 6-foot-6 guard.

Utah State guarded Moore with several players, including Shulga and Zee Hamoda. Even Dan Akin got switched onto Moore on key possessions and even guarded him well in multiple ISO situations.

“You have to (defend Moore) with your whole team basically,” Odom said. “You’re not going to hold him down for an entire game. You’ve just got to force him into as many hard shots as you can. If he’s allowed to get downhill on us and lay the ball in the basket that’s not going to be a good night for us.”

The Aggies have been up-and-down on the road, losing at some of the better home environments in the conference this year (Boise State, San Diego State, Nevada) and San Jose State has done well at home. The Spartans have a 9-2 home record (4-2 in conference play).

“It’s a really tough road place to play and they’ve done a great job of improving over the last year and a half since Coach Miles got there. I think everybody in the Mountain West understands how hard it is to play there.”

A win wouldn’t be likely to push Utah State up the standings (at best it could result in a tie with Boise State for third) but it would allow the Aggies to keep pace with Nevada and Boise State in what will likely be a fight for second place for USU and the Wolf Pack and Broncos.







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