Utah State Announces 2005-06 Men’s Basketball Schedule

Utah State University’s men’s basketball coach StewMorrill announced Tuesday the upcoming 2005-06 schedule as the Aggies begincompetition in the Western Athletic Conference this fall after spending thepast 27 years as a member of the Big West Conference.

Utah State will play a total of 29 games on the season which includestwo exhibition contests, 11 non-conference tilts and 16 league games. TheAggies will have 17 home games at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a venue whereUSU has gone 108-8 (.931) over the past eight seasons.

“Overall, this schedule presents as big a challenge as we’ve had sinceI’ve been here,” said Morrill. “When you look at entering a new league, thein-state games, and the other challenging non-conference opponents, it isdefinitely going to test us and we will find out what kind of basketballteam we have.”

After playing exhibition games against Occidental College on Nov. 4 andGlobal Sports on Nov. 12, Utah State will begin the year by playing five ofits first seven games on the road as the Aggies start the season with a roadtrip at Oral Roberts and at Middle Tennessee before opening its home seasonagainst Lewis and Clark College on Sat., Nov. 26.

The Aggies other non-conference games include road trips to in-staterivals Utah and Weber State, along with home matchups against MiddleTennessee, Oral Roberts, Brigham Young and South Dakota State. USU alsowelcomes Arkansas-Little Rock, Binghamton and Idaho State to the 12th annualGossner Foods Classic on Dec. 29-30.

Utah State opens its inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conferenceon Sat., Dec. 17 at Hawai’i and plays its first league home game on Thur.,Jan. 12 against Boise State. USU will also play two of its conference gameson Monday to accommodate television as the Aggies’ game at Nevada on Jan. 23will be televised by ESPN as will its home game against Hawai’i on Jan. 30.In all, USU will play 16 league games during the season.

“Moving from the Big West Conference to the Western Athletic Conferenceis exciting but also extremely challenging,” added Morrill. “There’s noquestion it’s a step up in terms of the overall caliber of competition andwe are well aware of what we’re getting into with the athleticism and talentin the WAC.”

The 2006 Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Reno,Nev., from Mar. 7-11 at the Lawlor Events Center. The first and secondrounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held on Mar. 16-19.

Overall, Utah State will have a minimum of five games against teams thatappeared in the postseason last year with two encounters against both Nevada(NCAA) and Oral Roberts (NIT), and one game against Utah (NCAA). Over thelast six years, Utah State has compiled an incredible 152-41 (.788) recordincluding an amazing 84-20 (.808) mark in league play.

Utah State returns four starters and five lettermen from last year’steam that went 24-8 on the season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament forthe fourth time in the last six years after defeating then 16th-rankedPacific in the championship game of the Big West Tournament.

-USU-

2005-06 Utah State Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time SeriesRecordFri., Nov. 4 OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE (Ex.) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m. Sat., Nov. 12 GLOBAL SPORTS (Ex.) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m.Sat., Nov. 19 Oral Roberts Tulsa, Okla. 6:05p.m. USU leads 2-1Mon., Nov. 21 Middle Tennessee Murfreesboro, Tenn. 6:05p.m. First MeetingSat., Nov. 26 LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m. First MeetingWed., Nov. 30 Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 7:05p.m. USU trails 90-127Mon., Dec. 5 MIDDLE TENNESSEE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05p.m.Sat., Dec. 10 Weber State Ogden, Utah 7:05 p.m.USU leads 31-24 Sat., Dec. 17 *Hawai’i Honolulu, Hawai’i 4:05 p.m.USU leads 2-1Tues., Dec. 20 ORAL ROBERTS Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m.Thurs., Dec. 22 BRIGHAM YOUNG Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05p.m. USU trails 89-135Thur.-Fri., Dec. 29-30 Gossner Foods Classic Dee Glen SmithSpectrumThur., Dec. 29 Utah State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Binghamton, IdahoStateFri., Dec. 30 Consolation Game 5:30 p.m. Championship Game 8:05 p.m.

Thur., Jan. 5 *San Jose State San Jose, Calif.8:05 p.m. USU leads 33-20Sat., Jan. 7 *Fresno State Fresno, Calif. 8:05p.m. USU leads 20-16Thur., Jan. 12 *BOISE STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m. USU leads 16-5Sat., Jan. 14 *IDAHO Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05p.m. USU leads 22-12Wed., Jan. 18 *LOUISIANA TECH Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05p.m. First MeetingMon., Jan. 23 *Nevada Reno, Nev. 9:05 p.m.USU leads 22-7Sat., Jan. 28 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m. USU leads 2-0Mon., Jan. 30 *HAWAI’I Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 10:05p.m.

Thur., Feb. 2 *New Mexico State Las Cruces, N.M.7:05 p.m. USU leads 27-20Sat., Feb. 4 *Louisiana Tech Ruston, La. 6:05p.m. Sat., Feb. 11 *NEW MEXICO STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m.Wed., Feb. 15 *Idaho Moscow, Idaho 8:05p.m.Thur., Feb. 23 *Boise State Boise, Idaho 7:05p.m.Sat., Feb. 25 *NEVADA Dee Glen Smith Spectrum 7:05 p.m.

Thur., Mar. 2 *FRESNO STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m.Sat., Mar. 4 *SAN JOSE STATE Dee Glen Smith Spectrum7:05 p.m.Tues.-Sat., Mar. 7-11 WAC Tournament Reno, Nev. TBAThur.-Sun., Mar. 16-19 NCAA First & Second Rounds TBATBA

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