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USU to face last-place Spartans

One week after burying the Nevada Wolf Pack in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Utah State basketball finds itself facing a crucial matchup Wednesday on the road against San Jose State University.

“At the start of the game they really set the tempo,” said Nevada coach David Carter following the Wolf Pack’s first meeting with the Aggies. “We already knew they were a great offensive team, we allowed them to move the ball well and they got different guys to score, It was a long night, in the first half we got a little bit of tempo, kind of slowed them down, then it got away from us and we never got control again.”

USU, currently ranked fifth in the Mountain West with a 7-5 record, has a chance to move even further up in the conference standings — if it can take care of the last-place Spartans.

Following an abnormal eight-day rest, the Aggies can’t afford to sleep on an SJSU team that’s still searching for its first conference win of the season.

“It’s a good solid win,” said USU head coach Stew Morrill after beating Nevada. “We have a break until we play again and that’s positive in some respects. We now have a chance to rest our legs a bit.”

The Spartans head into Wednesday’s game on a 14-game losing streak, winless since December 9, 2014. The Aggies demolished San Jose 61-33 back in December. The Spartans only dressed seven players in that contest.

“We did what we needed to do,” Morrill said after the blowout. “They’re a depleted roster. I feel bad for them and the situation that they’re in.”

But not all of SJSU’s losses have been so decisive.

Three days after the Spartans’ beating in the Spectrum, the young squad bounced back by going toe-to-toe with Wyoming — still with a healthy Larry Nance Jr. — losing a tight game 64-59.

San Jose is starving for a win and will likely look to sophomore guard Rashad Muhammad to end the losing skid.

Muhammad posted 23 points in the Spartan’s loss to Wyoming on Saturday, including three straight 3-pointers in the first half. As a team, San Jose State hit 10 of 25 shots from beyond the arc while managing to win the rebounding battle with 33 team boards.

Defending the long ball and rebounding are both elements of USU’s game that could give San Jose a chance against a hot Aggie team.

“We had 60 shots. We shot the ball 15 more times than them,” said SJSU head coach Dave Wojcik. “We just didn’t make enough shots. I thought our effort on the glass was terrific. We had 14 offensive rebounds and only 12 turnovers. At the end of the day it’s all about who puts the ball in the basket, and they did that more than us tonight.”

— logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @logantj