Utah State prepares for Mountain West heavyweight contest against Fresno State

Tonight at 7 p.m., the Mountain West-leading Fresno State men’s basketball team makes a trip to the Spectrum with a chance to avenge their two losses to Utah State last season.

Last season, the Aggies played an overtime thriller at home against Fresno State, a game in which Utah State came back from ten points down to take the game to overtime and steal a win from Fresno State. USU was one of only two teams to sweep the season series against the Bulldogs last season.

Fresno State has won nine of their past ten games, coming into the contest with an 11-3 record. Their one loss coming Utah Valley, a game which they played without star senior point guard DeShon Taylor.

Taylor returned to the court for the Bulldogs against San Jose State two game ago, after missing four games with an elbow injury. He is currently averaging 17.4 points and a team high 5.2 assists per game. But it’s not just Taylor doing the scoring, the Bulldogs are second in the Mountain West in scoring behind only Nevada, as well as second in scoring defense behind Utah State.

Senior guard Braxton Huggins leads the way for Fresno State in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game. The Bulldogs currently have four players averaging double figures in scoring this season.

Utah State boasts a strong offense as well, coming in at third in the conference in scoring at 79.1 points per game. The Aggies are coming off a 17-point win over Air Force on Saturday in their conference home-opener. USU has some top MW scorers as well. Junior guard Sam Merrill is the second leading scorer in the conference, averaging 19.3 points per game, which accounts for 24.3 percent of the Aggies scoring per game this season.

Utah State also heavily relies on its defense and rebounding to lead the charge. The Aggies are leading the conference in opponents scoring, field goal percentage, and in team rebounds. They also have the leading shot blocker in 6’11” freshman center Neemias Queta, who’s averaging 2.3 blocks per game.

This will be Utah State’s last home game against the top half of the conference until they take on UNLV Feb. 2.

Twitter: @dren_sports