Utah State men’s and women’s basketball conference schedule announced
The 2017-18 Utah State basketball schedule has been finalized as the Mountain West announced the conference schedule on Tuesday.
The men’s team opens with a home game against San Jose State on Dec. 27. Alternatively, the women will start their conference slate on the road against SJSU the following day, on Dec. 28.
The men are 2-0 in conference openers against the Spartans, winning in both 2014 and 2015. Last season, the Aggies opened against Boise State, with the men losing narrowly at home and the women falling in a road matchup.
San Diego State and Colorado State are the only conference opponents the Aggies will play once, with those games coming Dec. 30 and Jan. 10, respectively.
Utah State will only play two home games during Christmas break, as opposed to the three games the men played last year when fewer students were on campus.
The Aggie men will play rival Boise State in the road matchup on Jan. 17 and in Logan on Feb. 10. The women will flip the locations and play the Broncos on the same days.
Reigning MW champions Nevada will host the Aggies in Reno on Jan. 13 and will travel to Logan on Feb. 17.
The Aggies will close their season against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for the second straight year on Mar. 3, this time in the friendly confines of the Spectrum. The women’s team will host SJSU for their final home game on Feb. 27.
Last year saw an eighth-place finish from the men’s team, who ended with a 7-11 record in conference play and an overall record of 14-17. The Aggies were 6-3 at home against conference foes but a subpar 1-8 away from Logan.
The women finished 17-15 and 9-9 in conference in large part to a 12-4 home record and a four-game win streak from the end of January into the beginning of February.
Going forward, the Aggie women will look to build on their best season since 2012-13 with nearly the same roster the team had last year.
There will be more noticeable changes for the men, as this will be the first season after the reign of hometown hero Jalen Moore, who spent all four of his collegiate career in Logan. Sophomore guard Koby McEwen will hope to elevate his freshman of the year play from last year, and fellow-sophomore Sam Merrill will look to get a bigger role in the offense.
McEwen and Merrill together set records for the most points, assists and steals of any freshman duo in USU history.
The team has the unique opportunity to travel to Italy to take part in a 10-day, four-game series against professional teams. The road trip will take place August 16-26 and will see the Aggies play in four cities, including Rome.
“We’ll be playing teams from all over the world and it is high-level basketball,” head coach Tim Duryea said. “The teams will be club teams, professional teams and even national teams — they are all in play.”
Duryea also praised the efforts to arrange such a tour, which was planned by Basketball Travelers, Inc., calling it the “most organized” trip.
2017-18 Utah State men’s basketball Mountain West conference schedule
2017-18 Utah State women’s basketball Mountain West conference schedule
Thursday, Dec. 28 at San José State
Saturday, Dec. 30 San Diego State
Wednesday, Jan. 3 at Fresno State
Saturday, Jan. 6 UNLV
Wednesday, Jan. 10 at Colorado State
Saturday, Jan. 13 Nevada
Wednesday, Jan. 17 Boise State
Saturday, Jan. 20 at Wyoming
Wednesday, Jan. 24 at Air Force
Saturday, Jan. 27 Fresno State
Wednesday, Jan. 31 at New Mexico
Wednesday, Feb. 7 Wyoming
Saturday, Feb. 10 at Boise State
Wednesday, Feb. 14 New Mexico
Saturday, Feb. 17 at Nevada
Saturday, Feb. 24 Air Force
Tuesday, Feb. 27 San José State
Friday, March 2 at UNLV