Utah State Aggies bracing for UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on the road, undefeated San Diego State Aztecs at home

Utah State Aggies head coach Craig Smith calls out during a Mountain West Conference Tournament quarterfinal game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 14, 2019. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

LOGAN — Having survived the awkwardness of playing two Mountain West games in early December, it feels like the Utah State Aggies are actually heading into conference action with a bit of a head start over most of the league.

Thanks to victories over San Jose State and Fresno State, Utah State (13-2 overall, 2-0 in the MW) is tied for first place in the conference standings heading into Wednesday night’s game at UNLV (6-8, 1-0).

No. 13 San Diego State (13-0, 2-0) and New Mexico (13-2, 2-0) also have two conference victories already under their belts thanks to the Mountain West’s plan to move up league play in order to help the postseason tournament avoid conflicts with other big events in Las Vegas. And the surprising Aztecs, who are currently No. 1 in the country in the NET Rankings, will put their unblemished record on the line Wednesday at home against Fresno State (4-9, 0-2) before traveling to Cache Valley to take on the Aggies Saturday night in the Spectrum.

“I said at media day, ‘They are loaded,’ and they are,” USU head coach Craig Smith said of the Aztecs. “They’re very, very good, so we’re going to have a very difficult week. … It’s always difficult to go into UNLV and win — it’s always difficult to go anywhere on the road and win — and UNLV has a new coach, so they’re doing some things differently.”

Of course, Smith is also very familiar with the Rebels’ new head coach, T.J. Otzelberger. Smith and Otzelberger overlapped for two seasons in the Summit League while coaching at South Dakota and South Dakota State, respectively.

Smith and the Coyotes went 22-12 and took first place in the regular season in 2016-17, but they were knocked out of the postseason tourney by Otzelberger and the fourth-seeded Jackrabbits, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament. During Smith’s fourth and final year at South Dakota, the Coyotes won 26 games and finished second to the Jackrabbits during the regular season, but then lost to South Dakota State in the championship game of the postseason tournament.

While Smith was guiding Utah State to a 28-7 record last year, Otzelberger led the Jackrabbits to a second straight 28-win season that ended with a loss to Texas in the NIT. The former Iowa State and Washington assistant was hired by UNLV just over a week later to replace Marvin Menzies, who was fired after going 48-48 during his three years as head coach of the Rebels.

Although UNLV isn’t off to a great start during Otzelberger’s inaugural season, the Rebels have lost three games in overtime while playing the likes of Cal, UCLA, Cincinnati and Kansas State. In games common with the Aggies, UNLV was pounded by Brigham Young, 83-50, at Vivint Arena, the same venue where Utah State lost to the Cougars, 68-64, a week later. And both Utah State (77-70) and UNLV (81-80) managed to beat Fresno State in overtime, although the Rebels’ victory came at Fresno.

Led by Amauri Hardy (15,2 ppg, 34 3-pointers), UNLV boasts three double-digit scorers and is averaging 68.2 ppg, good for ninth place in the Mountain West. Conversely, the Aggies are first in the conference in scoring offense (81.8 ppg) and second in scoring defense (56.3 ppg), while the Rebels (68.5 ppg) are fifth in defense.

Smith hopes to have Neemias Queta back on the court Wednesday for the first time since the sophomore center hurt his knee during USU’s 65-62 win over Florida on Dec. 21. Queta sat out last week’s 129-61 blowout of Eastern Oregon, but the expectation at the time was that injury wasn’t as serious as the one that sidelined the 2019 Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year for the first nine games of the season.

Sophomore forward Justin Bean currently leads the Mountain West in rebounding (11.5 rpg) and is second in field goal percentage (.526), while senior guard Sam Merrill is third in scoring (17.7 ppg).

“We finished nonconference play 11-2 — although our record is 13-2 obviously — but I thought we handled our business,” Smith said. “… Now we get into league play, although it’s technically started already. It’s just that now it feels like it’s time for league play.

“It’s a great time of year. It’s an exciting time of year. And we’re going to have to play well to win at UNLV.”

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