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LOGAN, Utah - Utah State (3-3) opens its Mountain West Conference slate on Monday, Dec. 21, against familiar foe San José State (1-2), a team the Aggies have faced as their opening league opponent five times in the eight years that USU has been a member of the MW.

Opening Tips
• Utah State leads the all-time series against the Spartans 64-22 and has won four straight and 25 of the last 26. The Aggies are 36-4 against SJSU in Logan and have won each of the last 28 contests in Cache Valley.

• Utah State is 5-2 in conference home openers since joining the Mountain West in 2013-14, with three of those wins coming against San José State. USU has won each of its last two MW openers. Overall, USU is 4-3 in Mountain West conference openers.

• With COVID-19 impacting how the MW put the league schedule together, Utah State is playing a league foe in back-to-back regular season games for the first time since the 1990-91 season, when the Aggies faced the very same Spartans of San José State as members of the Big West.

• Utah State opened the year with its toughest schedule since the KenPom era began (2001-02), as each of its first opponents were ranked among the top-100 in the nation. The Aggies are one of just eight teams in the country to face four top-100 teams over the course of their first four games of the 2020-21 season.

• Over the last three games, Utah State's defense has locked up the opponent in the second half as Aggie foes have shot just 32.9 percent (26-of-79) from the floor and 28.2 percent (11-of-39) from behind the 3-point line during the final half. USU held Northern Colorado to a season-low 50 total points in its last time out.

• Utah State has owned the glass this season, outrebounding every opponent this year and carrying a rebounding margin of plus-8.7. The Aggies have pulled down double-digit offensive boards in four of the six games they've played this season.

• Utah State is one of just three teams in the MW with four players all averaging more than 12 points per game as redshirt-junior guard Marco Anthony paces the Aggies with 14.8 points per game, followed by junior center Neemias Queta with 12.7, freshman guard Rollie Worster with 12.3 and junior forward Justin Bean with 12.0.

• Worster is the first USU freshman to score in double figures in five of the first six games of his career in more than 20 years. Worster's 74 points on the year is second only to USU all-time leading scorer Jaycee Carroll, who scored 80 points over the first six games of his freshman campaign.

• Junior forward Justin Bean has pulled down 10 or more rebounds in three contests this year, bringing his career total to 28 games with double-digit rebounds. Bean moved to 10th all-time in school history against Northern Colorado and needs one more 10-plus rebounding effort to tie him with the Spencer Nelson (1999, 2003-05), coincidentally the coach who recruited him, for ninth on the list.