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LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's basketball (15-6, 4-4 MW) wraps up a two-game homestand on Saturday night, hosting Colorado State (14-7, 5-3 MW) at 8 o'clock on ESPNU.

Opening Tips
• Utah State and Colorado State will meet for the 102nd time on Saturday night, marking the fourth-longest series in USU men's basketball history.

• The game between the Rams and Aggies pit the two leading rebounders in the league against one another as CSU's Nico Carvacho leads the MW with 10.5 boards per game, followed closely by USU sophomore forward Justin Bean with 10.4 per contest.

• Utah state is 23-2 at home under head coach Craig Smith and has won nine of its last 10 conference games at home.

• Utah State is 19-7 against Mountain West opponents over the last two years, including an 11-2 mark at home. All-time, USU is 59-57 in the MW since joining the league in 2013-14.

• Utah State is second in the nation with 364 makes at the free throw line this season, while opponents have attempted a total of 343 free throws against the Aggies.

• As of Jan. 23, Utah State is among the Top-10 in the nation in five different statistics. The Aggies are second in the nation in total free throws made (364), fourth in the nation in total rebounds (869), fifth in the nation in total free throw attempts (478), seventh in the nation in total assists (346) and ninth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (29.76).

• Utah State is also among the Top-25 in five other statistics, including total rebounds per game (41.38, 13th), rebound margin (8.3, 14th), scoring margin (13.5, 15th), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.34) and assists per game (16.5, 17th).

• Utah State has carried a lead in all but three minutes and 37 seconds over the last three contests.

• Utah State earned a combined 3.11 grade point average during the fall semester, making up a combined 3.32 grade point average for USU student-athletes, the highest semester GPA for the Aggies in school history.

• The Aggies are 38-5 over the last two seasons when scoring 70 or more points in a game.

• Utah State is 29-3 when holding teams to less than 70 points, including a perfect 18-0 mark when holding teams to less than 60 points.

• USU senior guard Sam Merrill moved to No. 4 on Utah State's all-time scoring list, totaling 1,901 career points. Merrill is one of only five players in school history to surpass 1,900 career points.

• Merrill has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and in each of the last 12 games, increasing his total of 95 career games in double figures, moving to fourth in school history.

• Merrill is currently No. 4 on the all-time minutes played list at USU and needs to log 33 more minutes to move to second all-time. 

• Although appearing in limited games this season, sophomore center Neemias Queta has moved to No. 5 all-time in Utah State history with 91 career blocks.

• Queta made the most of his rehab, increasing his free throw percentage from 56.5 (78-of-138) a season ago to 72.5 percent (29-of-40) this season.

• Senior guard Diogo Brito has surpassed 100 career steals this year, totaling 107 during his career and collecting at least one in each of the last seven games. Brito leads the MW with 1.76 steals per game, while Bean leads the MW in conference games with 2.1 thefts per contest.

• Bean, a former walk-on, is one of only two active players in the MW averaging a double-double, turning in 13.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Bean has logged double-doubles in each of the last two games and is fifth in the nation with 12 double-doubles this season, the most by an Aggie since Eric Franson logged 15 double-doubles during the 1994-95 season.

• Utah State has had a player log a double-double in six of its eight conference games this season (Bean - 5, Queta - 1).