During a media timeout in the first half of Utah State’s eventual 86-76 victory over Villanova, TNT’s broadcast team pulled aside Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard to get an update from him on the game. Sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi asked Willard about the at-the-time 16 points in the paint the Aggies had scored and the first-year Villanova coach gave a terse response. “I’m gonna fire my staff,” Willard said. “We’ve given up eight points on underneath out-of-bounds defense. The only thing I’m gonna do is fire them and get a new staff.” “I’m gonna fire my staff. Yeah, I am … The only thing I’m gonna do is fire them and get a new staff.” – Villanova coach Kevin Willard to @LaurenShehadi 🤣 pic.twitter.com/6PdSBKa72z — CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 20, 2026 Willard repeated that sentiment after the game when asked about the team’s struggles on those plays. Though when a follow-up about those comments and the TV interview, which had gone viral on social media and drawn widespread criticism, Willard said it was meant as a joke. “Welcome to my life. It (was) a joke,” Willard said. Jokes about the employment status of Villanova’s assistants aside, Willard

SAN DIEGO — After going 22 years without a single NCAA Tournament win, the Utah State Aggies have won two within a three-year span thanks to its Friday-afternoon 86-76 victory over Villanova. The victory took a historic level of effort from the Aggies, who had to withstand one of the most intense 3-point barrages put forth in this year’s tournament. Villanova hit 14 triples, their third-most in a game this season and tied for second-most by any team in March Madness so far in 2026. The most 3-pointers Utah State had allowed in a single NCAA Tournament game all-time was nine. That tally occurring in a 39-point blowout suffered at the hands of the eventual national runner-up Purdue Boilermakers. At seemingly every turn, Villanova’s absurd 3-point shooting volume curbed Utah State’s attempts to seize control of the game. The Aggies opened up a 22-13 lead eight minutes into the game, 19 of those points coming in the paint or as a result of shooting fouls inside the key.  .@USUBasketball IS PUTTING ON A SHOW IN SAN DIEGO. pic.twitter.com/HRkD8BjLhY — CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 20, 2026 Utah State needed to rely on that paint dominance as it made only two

SAN DIEGO — The unrelenting ride toward March has finally reached its first official stage. Utah State’s men’s basketball team arrived in San Diego earlier this week, memories of holding two Mountain West championship trophies fresh in their minds. Source link

SAN DIEGO — The unrelenting ride toward March has finally reached its first official stage. Utah State’s men’s basketball team arrived in San Diego earlier this week, memories of holding two Mountain West championship trophies fresh in their minds. Ahead is a new foe. The Villanova Wildcats. It’ll be the first non-MW opponent for the Aggies since December, but also the biggest test of the season. And it will occur on the biggest stage college basketball has to offer. It’s time for March Madness. There’s a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar for Utah State in this trip to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The opponent is one the Aggies knew next to nothing about when they saw their team listed next to eight-seeded Villanova on Selection Sunday. However, the venue is quite familiar. Viejas Arena is a building they’ve played in once this season with multiple players on the team having played twice or even three times surrounded by the red seats. “Viejas is a great venue,” USU forward Karson Templin said. “San Diego State does a great job when we’re playing here. It’s always fun to come and play. But they’re a fellow Mountain West team. So,

LAS VEGAS — In their final season in the Mountain West, Utah State did what it had never done before. The Aggies have, multiple times, climbed the mountain of winning the regular season conference championship and rising to the peak by winning the conference tournament championship. But on Saturday, Utah State complete a sweep of both in the same season, clinching the conference tournament title with a 73-62 win over San Diego State exactly one week after claiming the outright regular season championship. In 13 seasons in the Mountain West, the Aggies hadn’t won an outright regular season title and conference tournament title in the same season, though this year’s rings will be number five and six for Utah State in its MW era. The win by the Aggies broke a tie between the two teams set up from the last four meetings in the title game. Utah State won in 2019 and 2020, the latter featuring Sam Merrill’s famed last-second buzzer-beater that punched USU’s ticket to a later cancelled NCAA Tournament. But San Diego State won the next two title-game bouts in 2021 and 2023, meaning the Aggies also broke a losing streak with Saturday’s victory. 14 Mar 2026: The