Utah State enters March needing only 40 minutes of basketball to clinch a second Mountain West regular season championship in three seasons. The first chance at securing that trophy will come away from Logan, along with a chance at something else: revenge. The Aggies lost at home to UNLV back on Jan. 20, the only home loss USU has suffered all year, and will look to even things up on the Rebels’ home turf. Multiple motivating factors are present for Utah State to come away with a victory as the final week of the regular season begins.
Here’s all of the necessary info ahead of this game for the Aggies.
How to watch
- Tip-off: March 3, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. (Mountain Time)
- Location: Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, NV)
- TV Broadcast: CBS Sports Network
- Radio Broadcast: KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM) / kvnutalk.com / KVNU mobile app
KVNU Aggie GameDay pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker: 8:00 p.m.
KVNU Aggie Call: Immediately after Coach Jerrod Calhoun’s post-game comments
- Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the pregame or postgame show to give your thoughts and reactions for the game.
Projected Starters
Utah State (24-5, 14-4 MW)
- G – Drake Allen (6-5, Sr.) – 6.7 points | 2.9 rebounds | 4.8 assists
- G – Mason Falslev (6-4, Jr.) – 16.3 points | 5.7 rebounds | 2.8 assists
- G – MJ Collins (6-4, Sr.) – 18.5 points | 2.3 rebounds | 1.7 assists
- F – Adlan Elamin (6-9, Fr.) – 7.1 points | 3.2 rebounds | 0.9 assists
- F – Zach Keller (6-10, Sr.) – 2.9 points | 1.8 rebounds | 0.3 assists
UNLV (15-14, 10-10 MW)
- G – Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (6-1, Jr.) – 21.0 points | 3.1 rebounds | 2.7 assists
- G – Howie Fleming (6-5, Sr.) – 9.2 points | 6.0 rebounds | 3.6 assists
- F – Walter Brown (6-5, Sr.) – 3.3 points | 2.3 rebounds | 0.9 assists
- F – Kimani Hamilton (6-7, Sr.) – 12.3 points | 4.9 rebounds | 2.0 assists
- F – Jacob Bannarbie (6-9, So.) – 5.5 points | 5.1 rebounds | 1.4 assists
UNLV has used six different starting lineups over its last six games, making exact predictions difficult. The one listed is who the Rebels started in their most recent game. The Rebels may opt to start Tyrin Jones (6-9 Jr.) or Emmanuel Stephen (6-11 So.) in the frontcourt as both players started against the Aggies last time out.
Video from today’s press conference with Utah State men’s basketball head coach Jerrod Calhoun and senior guard Kolby King as the Aggies prepare to travel to UNLV for a rematch with the Rebels. pic.twitter.com/VHBGTbWby6
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) March 2, 2026
Availability Report
The following is drawn from the official availability reports posted by the Mountain West. Per-game stats, if applicable, are included in parenthesis.
UTAH STATE
UNLV
- Ladji Dembele – OUT
- Myles Che – OUT
Neither of Ladji Dembele or Myles Che have played a significant role in UNLV’s rotation, making this game essentially unaffected by injuries in relation to the rest of the season for either team.
Utah State Keys to Victory
Put a cap on Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn’s scoring
Will the Aggies stop Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn in this game? Unlikely. The junior guard is averaging 29.7 points in his last eight games on 56.9/52.9/94.1 shooting splits. Gibbs-Lawhorn has scored 30+ in four of his last five outing and is coming off a career-best 42 points in UNLV’s overtime win against Nevada. Theoretically, that scoring rampage probably stops somewhere, but probably not at home. They key for Utah State essentially is a game of limiting his impact and making things as hard as possible for the points he does get.
Winning even when Gibbs-Lawhorn goes off is far from impossible. After all, the Rebels are only 5-4 within this dominant run of scoring and have needed overtime to win twice. They are quite vulnerable even when having someone that is a walking bucket out there on the court for virtually every minute.
Don’t get overpowered by big forwards
There’s a whole dialogue that could be had about Utah State keeping itself out of foul trouble given how the Aggies have struggled a lot in that regard lately and UNLV ranks 30th in free throw attempts per game. But most of that will boil down to how Utah State defends UNLV’s top forwards, Kimani Hamilton and Tyrin Jones. Both were problems for the Aggies in the first matchup, with Jones scoring a career-best 20 points and Hamilton tallying 10 despite playing only 13 minutes due to foul trouble. The two combined to attempt 19 free throws which went a long way toward their combined offensive output.
Those two guys are matchup problems for Utah State. Hamilton stands 6-foot-7, Jones is 6-foot-9, and both are mobile with the ability to put the ball on the deck and drive to the basket. USU’s perimeter defense against these guys will be smaller or slower players in many cases. Guys like Drake Allen, Mason Falslev and MJ Collins need to be able to not be physically overpowered and backed into giving up good scoring position. Adlan Elamin, Karson Templin, Garry Clark and Zach Keller need to stay in front of them and not get beat off the dribble.
How well these things are done will play a massive role in the eventual result of this game.
Get UNLV in foul trouble
Utah State has its own foul troubles at times, but it’s hardly anything compared to UNLV. The Rebels rank 357th in opponent free throw rate and 363rd in fouls per game. They foul a lot and their key players are often spending more time on the bench because of fouls (as noted above, Hamilton’s minutes against the Aggies last game out were severely restricted by foul trouble). Forcing UNLV to go deeper into its bench, especially down the stretch, could be a key in disrupting its momentum and/or getting positive results on plays down the stretch.
Computer Prediction Scores
- KenPom — Utah State win 85-76
- Haslametrics — Utah State win 84-75
- EvanMiya — Utah State win 85-76
