USU men’s basketball regains AP Top 25 ranking
The Utah State men’s basketball team moved up two spots to No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll and re-entered the Associated Press poll at No. 24 Monday.
After being ranked as high as No. 19 in the AP poll and No. 23 in the coaches’ poll during the week of Feb. 9, an upset loss to Pacific caused the Aggies to drop in both polls and fall out of the AP poll completely.
USU’s rise in the polls came in part thanks to a 77-72 victory over UC Riverside Feb. 19 and a commanding 87-61 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 21, a game in which senior Cardell Butler scored a career-high 31 points.
With the two victories at home last week, the Ags completed conference play undefeated at home and improved to 22-2 overall and 14-1 in Big West play. .
“If we don’t win another game we’ve had a good season,” Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “I don’t care what anyone says, because if you win 22 basketball games you’ve had a good season.”
Upsets of teams in the bottom half of the Top 25 polls also propelled the Ags ahead in the rankings.
Louisiana State, ranked No. 24 in the AP poll, fell from its Top 25 ranking after suffering defeats to Auburn and Vanderbilt last week.
After losing two of its last three games, South Carolina also fell out of the Top 25 from a No. 25 ranking in the AP poll and a No. 22 ranking in the coaches’ poll last week.
Syracuse, ranked by the coaches at No. 24 last week, also dropped after suffering an upset loss to Notre Dame Feb. 16.
The Ags are joined by in the coaches’ poll by newcomers Memphis and Illinois. Both teams broke into the Top 25 this week after being previously unranked.
Utah State broke into the AP poll for the first time in 33 years on Feb. 2.
The Aggies’ 22 wins are tied with Duke and Southern Illinois for third most in the nation. Stanford, Gonzaga and East Tennessee all have 23 wins, while St. Joseph’s and Pittsburgh lead the country with 24 wins this season.
“Those things can’t be taken away,” Morrill said of his team’s accomplishments.
USU now plays its final three regular season games on the road starting with Long Beach State on Thursday and then traveling to UC Irvine on Saturday.
“We just need to go play Long Beach,” Morrill said. “If you try and look at this group of road games, all three at once, it can be a little overwhelming. If you just try and go look at playing Long Beach on Thursday and go from there it’s not quite as daunting of a task.”
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