Utah State Announces 2003-04 Men’s Basketball Schedule

Utah State University’s head men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill announced Wednesday the upcoming 2003-04 schedule for the defending Big West Conference tournament champions. Over the past four years, USU has compiled an incredible 103-29 record including an amazing 66-15 mark in league play.

Utah State will play a total of 29 games on the season which includes two exhibition games, nine non-conference tilts and 18 league encounters. The Aggies will have 17 home games at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a venue where USU has gone 94-7 (.931) over the past seven seasons.

“We will find out a lot about our team in the preseason portion of our schedule, especially with two of our three in-state games on the road,” said Morrill. “As for our league schedule, the Big West has become much more balanced, top to bottom, the last few years and I think it will be more so this season.”

The Big West Conference will remain the same with 10 league teams. Utah State will play a total of 18 league games on the year in a round-robin format with each school playing each other member institution both home and away.

Along with an always challenging league schedule, Utah State will travel to in-state rivals Weber State and Utah and host Brigham Young on Dec. 23. The Aggies will also host Texas-San Antonio, San Francisco and New Mexico State in the 10th annual Gossner Foods Classic on Dec. 29-30.

“Our (Gossner Foods Classic) tournament is stronger than its been any year I have been here, maybe stronger than any year of the tournament,” added Morrill. “So, overall this schedule offers a lot of fun games for our fans and challenges for our team as we go along.”

Utah State’s other non-conference games have the Aggies traveling to Idaho State and hosting Illinois State and Jackson State, along with Fort Lewis College.

The 2004 Big West Conference Tournament will once again be held in Anaheim, Calif. from Mar. 11-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held on Mar. 18-21.

2003 Utah State Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time Series RecordFri., Nov. 7 GLOBAL SPORTS (Ex.) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. NAFri., Nov. 14 HAWAI’I-HILO (Ex.) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU leads 2-0Fri., Nov. 21 FT. LEWIS COLLEGE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum TBA First MeetingTue., Nov. 25 Weber State Ogden, Utah 7:05 p.m. USU leads 29-24Sat., Nov. 29 ILLINOIS STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU trails 1-2

Wed., Dec. 3 Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 7:05 p.m. USU trails 89-126Sat., Dec. 13 Idaho State Pocatello, Idaho TBA USU leads 29-13Thur., Dec. 18 JACKSON STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU trails 0-1Tue., Dec. 23 BRIGHAM YOUNG Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU trails 86-133Mon.-Tue., Dec. 29-30 Gossner Foods Classic Dee Glen Smith Spectrum TBAMon., Dec. 29 New Mexico State, San Francisco, UT-San Antonio and Utah StateTue., Dec. 30 Consolation Game Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Championship Game Dee Glen Smith Spectrum

Sat., Jan 3 *IDAHO Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU leads 17-11Thur., Jan. 8 *UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, Calif. 8:05 p.m. USU leads 33-23Sat., Jan. 10 *Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Calif. 8:05 p.m. USU leads 11-1Thur., Jan. 15 *PACIFIC Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU leads 42-19Sat., Jan. 17 *CS NORTHRIDGE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU leads 7-1Thur., Jan. 22 *CS Fullerton Fullerton, Calif. 8:05 p.m. USU leads 35-16Sat., Jan. 24 *UC Riverside Riverside, Calif. 8:05 p.m. USU leads 5-1Thur., Jan. 29 *UC IRVINE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. Series tied 26-26 Sat., Jan. 31 *LONG BEACH STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m. USU leads 28-21

Thur., Feb. 5 *CAL POLY Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 7 *UC SANTA BARBARA Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m.Thur., Feb. 12 *CS Northridge Northridge, Calif. 8:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 14 *Pacific Stockton, Calif. 8:05 p.m.Thur., Feb. 19 *UC RIVERSIDE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 21 *CS FULLERTON Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m.Thur., Feb. 26 *Long Beach State Long Beach, Calif. 8:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 28 *UC Irvine Irvine, Calif. 8:05 p.m.

Fri., Mar. 5 *Idaho Moscow, Idaho 8:05 p.m.Thur.-Sat., Mar. 11-13 Big West Tournament Anaheim, Calif. TBAThur.-Sun., Mar. 18-21 NCAA First & Second Rounds TBA TBA

*Denotes Big West Conference game.Home Games in BOLD AND ALL CAPS.All times are Mountain time zone, tentative and subject to change.