The annual trip to Logan, Utah hasn’t been a fun one most years for the Aztecs. No matter what time of year, what the standings look like, or which Aggies team & coach they are up against—it’s always a travel game that usually ends in a loss.
Saturday morning San Diego State 15-5 (9-1) takes on Utah State 17-3 (8-2) in this years opportunity to get out of town with a win. It will all take place starting at 10am and will be on big CBS as a nationally televised broadcast.
SDSU is one game above Utah State in the standings for 1st place. An Aztecs victory gives them clear control of their destiny. A win for the Aggies gets them even with SDSU and opens up the race for others like New Mexico and perhaps Nevada.
As we take a closer look at the matchup here are 3 things to keep an eye on when SDSU tries to steal a game on the road vs Utah State.
Momentum on the Mountain
As mentioned SDSU comes in at 1st place, but this is nothing new. Utah State is used to looking up at the Aztecs. SDSU is by far the class of the Mountain West and figures to stay among the top along with Gonzaga in the new Pac-12. Even in all the years the Aggies won at home, they always seem to finish looking up at the Aztecs in the standings.
After taking their lumps against two of the best teams in the nation Arizona and Michigan, and tough losses to Troy and Baylor, the Aztecs getting to this point where they’ve figured out ways to be at the top of the conference is like clockwork. Crazy clock-work.
Brian Dutcher’s teams are always on fire come February where he is 49-12 as a head coach. That is good for an 80% winning percentage. This Saturday morning’s matchup is on the 31st of January however. Perhaps a day too soon?
For Utah State they were rolling right out of the gate. Winners in their first 14 of 15 games of the season—the Aggies have been the best statistical team in the conference when you combine both sides of the ball in average. But that took a hit when they dropped back to back losses against Grand Canyon and UNLV.
It showed they do struggle against physical teams that can match up. They failed to stop those teams defensively and the fact that their out of conference schedule never puts them against top-25 teams, it’s really tough to see just how good this team is without that level of competition.
Utah State did bounce back in a big way this week against Wyoming taking the Pokes down 94-62. Couple that with their hostile environment and familiarity with the Aztecs, this game isn’t so much about the momentum coming in to this game, but rather the momentum that will be created coming out.
Short-handed Aztecs
Utah State is one of the best statistical teams in the conference. Ranking in at #1 in offensive scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, assists, steals, assist to turnover ratio, and offensive rebounds—the Aggies play and win the right way.
“They’re dynamic offensively they have a lot of set plays that run at a high pace and so they spend a lot of time on and it shows.” voiced Brian Dutcher. “And defensively they try to confuse you. Hopefully altitude won’t be a factor.“
With so much precision operated by the point #2 MJ Collins, the 6’4″ senior transfer from Vanderbilt is leading the Aggies in scoring with 19 pts per game. His 40% from three off of 125 attempts makes him a scorer from anywhere on the court.
The only player who averages more minutes is longtime Aggie #12 Mason Falslev. He’s averaging at just about 16 points per game and leads the team in assists. On the defensive end Mason dominates leading the team in steals as well as rebounds.
The depth of the Aztecs is the calling card this season. All the scoring coming off the bench is skewed coming into Saturday however, as it will likely be the 4th game missed by Magoon Gwath and perhaps the 2nd game in a row without freshman guard Elzie Harrington. His status is uncertain as coach Dutcher announced,
“I think Elzie wants to play. So whether he’ll play with a certain amount of pain I don’t know. I know he’s anxious to play again.”
For the Aztecs, Pharaoh Compton is coming off perhaps his finest showing of the season at home in the Aztecs victory over Colorado State. The motivation was there for Compton to perform well. Now he must replicate that effort in front of a hostile crowd. If he can avoid fouls and come in off the bench for must needed physical play, SDSU’s chances of winning increase.
In Magoon’s place is Jeremiah Oden who has received most of the starts at the forward spot. Though not putting up big numbers, this is a chance for him to really put up a big time performance by just doing the fundamentals very well. Boxing out, crashing the boards, hustle plays for loose possessions and throw in a three pointer could really step in nicely.
Taj DeGourville is another who has stepped up at this point in the season. After navigating the early part of the season, DeGourville has jumped in and looks poised to hit his stride on both ends of the floor.
“It’s just all about fit. I was just finding my way to play with everybody.” said DeGourville this week. “Just get in rhythm myself as well just find my place on the team and I feel I’ve been able to do that at a pretty good level these past couple games.”
Taj has the playmaking ability on the offensive end. If he can also turn his defense into offensive opportunities it will go a long ways towards a tough win on the road. Limiting turnovers and maintaining focus on each possession will ensure the Aztecs depth will truly show it’s might.
Rarified Air
The matchup between Utah State’s offensive firepower and SDSU’s balanced scoring offers a great test of ball movement, shot selection, and execution in transition vs. half-court sets. But a ton of questions will be answered in this matchup where the Aztecs are “short-handed”.
Can SDSU’s defense disrupt Utah State’s offense, especially shooters and ball handlers like MJ Collins Jr. and Mason Falslev? Who will win the rebounding battle? Will the team wear the lucky all REDs again?
The most important in the end is can the Aztecs actually win in Logan? It’s going to take a huge effort to do all of this—one that SDSU hasn’t been able to much. San Diego State overall is 20-11 over Utah State in program history.
But only twice have the Aztecs beaten the Aggies on the road in the Brian Dutcher era. The first came in the 2019-2020 season with that special 30-2 team. The next was the National Championship runner-up 2022-2023 team. Needless to say, the Aztecs swept the regular season series against the Aggies in both of those standout seasons.
Other than those two outliers every other season SDSU has not been able to win in Logan under Coach Dutcher. I guess the only good thing from this inconvenient truth is that you could draw a correlation between a huge post season for SDSU hinging upon a win this Saturday.
Do you believe in these kind of quirky facts? It might be the most important question answered of them all.
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