Utah State and Boise State are two of the teams that are part of a four-team deadlock at the top of the Mountain West going into Friday’s games.
Following the game on Saturday, one of the teams will no longer be in contention for the top spot as the Broncos and No. 22 Aggies clash in Logan, Utah.
No. 24 San Diego State, slated to play on Friday, and No. 25 New Mexico also joined the first-place deadlock after the intense mid-week games in the Mountain West.
Utah State (19-4, 7-3) held the top spot until suffering consecutive losses to San Diego State and Nevada. The latter handed the Aggies a 77-63 defeat on Tuesday, marking the end of Utah State’s 13-game home winning streak.
“I hate losing at home,” Aggies guard Mason Falslev said. “All those people came out to support us and cheer for us and all of us feel bad. We need to play harder for them.”
In the eyes of coach Danny Sprinkle, the effort was lacking.
“This is the second time in two games that we didn’t play hard, and I didn’t coach hard enough,” Sprinkle said.
Utah State shot a mere 39.3 percent from the field and made only 5 of 21 attempts from 3-point range in a game where they trailed by as much as 18 points.
Additionally, the Aggies scored below 70 points for the second consecutive game. Their record stands at 17-1 this season when they reach the 70-point mark.
Ian Martinez led the Aggies with 16 points, maintaining a scoring average of 13.8.
Great Osobor tops the scoring (18.7) and rebounding (9.2) for Utah State. However, he contributed just 11 points and four rebounds against Nevada.
The Aggies are seeking to sweep the season series against the Broncos, following their 90-84 overtime victory at Boise State on January 27.
In that game, Darius Brown II scored 19 points and Martinez added 18, while Tyson Degenhart scored 24 points for Boise State.
Degenhart is coming off two consecutive impressive performances, scoring a career-high 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting in a 94-56 win over Air Force last Saturday, and adding 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting in Tuesday’s 75-62 road loss to Colorado State.
“It’s going to be two angry teams, that’s for sure,” Degenhart said after the loss at Colorado State. “Emotions are going to be riding high, but we know what to do with the bounce back.”
Boise State coach Leon Rice knows winning in Utah State’s rowdy arena isn’t easy.
“That’s the tough part of this league, it’s just one good team after another,” Rice said. “To go on the road, you have to play an ‘A’ game to win.”
While Degenhart excelled with a team-best 16.1 points per game in the loss against Colorado State, the rest of the Broncos struggled, shooting just 31 percent (13 of 42) from the field.
Second-leading scorer Chibuzo Agbo (14.4) made 3 of 10 shots, third-leading scorer O’Mar Stanley (12.8) was 2 of 8, and fourth-leading scorer Max Rice (12.5) made 3 of 9 shots. Only Rice (11) reached double digits alongside Degenhart.
Rice averaged 11.5 points in the two games following his career-best 35-point performance during the 86-78 upset of then-No. 19 New Mexico on January 31.
