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LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's basketball (14-5, 11-2 MW) returns to Mountain West play this week with a pair of road games at Boise State (16-4, 12-3 MW) on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. Wednesday's game will be televised on CBS Sports Network (Xfinity Ch. 269/753HD), DISH Ch. 158, DirecTV Ch. 221), while Friday's game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 (Xfinity Ch. 265/HD691, DirecTV Ch. 219, DISH Ch. 150).

Opening Tips
• Utah State is 38-11 in MW play under head coach Craig Smith and is 2-1 against Boise State during his tenure. Overall, Utah State leads the all-time series with the Broncos, 34-16, and has won four of the last five. BSU leads 12-10 in games played in Boise and has won four of the last five in Idaho.

• Utah State will enter the games having not played since Feb. 4, due to COVID-19 precautions. The 13-day break is the longest for the Aggies this season as USU also had a 10-day break during the month of December. Utah State put together a 10-game winning streak after coming out of its first break in December.

• Smith has the best winning percentage in Mountain West history when combining league play and Mountain West Tournament games, with a winning percentage of .800. The top-5 is rounded out by Dave Rose at BYU (.781), Eric Musselman at Nevada (.741), Brian Dutcher at San Diego State (.726) and Rick Majerus at Utah (.698).

• Utah State has recorded 23 victories against MW opponents away from home over the course of Smith's tenure. The 23 victories ranks second among the top-13 conferences in the nation, second only to Gonzaga's 25 wins against league opponents away from Spokane. Virginia (21), Dayton (19), Buffalo (19) and Houston (19) round out the top five.

• Utah State has outrebounded every opponent this season and is 66-13 under Smith when winning the battle of the boards. The Aggies lead the MW and are second in the nation with a plus-10.7 rebounding margin. 

• Utah State has pulled down double-digit offensive rebounds in all but four games this season and leads the MW with 13.0 offensive rebounds per game in league play. The Aggies have scored 221 second-chance points this season, making up more than 15 percent of their total points.

• Utah State has scored 624 points in the paint this season, outscoring all but four opponents from inside. The 624 points represents 43.9 percent of the Aggies' total points this season.

• Utah State is the only team in the Mountain West with three players all ranked among the top-10 in rebounds per game in league play. Junior center Neemias Queta is second with 9.4 boards per game, junior forward Justin Bean sixth with 7.0 per contest and redshirt junior guard Marco Anthony is 10th with 5.8 per game.

• Utah State is also the only team in the Mountain West with three players all ranked among the top-10 in assists per game in league play. Freshman guard Rollie Worster is fourth with 3.8 per contest, Anthony eighth with 3.2 per game and Queta 10th with 3.0 assists per outing in league play.

• Queta is fifth in the nation with 58 total blocks, which is as many or more than 197 other teams in the nation. Queta's average of 3.05 blocks per game is the best in school history and ranks No. 5 in the nation.

Boise State Series
• Each of the last two games in Boise have gone into overtime. The average margin of victory in games played in Boise during the MW era is just 3.7 points. The largest margin of victory for either team in Boise has been seven points, a 78-71 win in overtime by Utah State during the 2018-19 season.

• In the last game between the two teams, Utah State posted a 70-61 victory over the Broncos, the Aggies' largest margin of victory during the Mountain West era. Prior to that victory, the games between the two schools had been decided by seven or fewer points in all but one game.

• Utah State has recorded more assists than the Broncos in all but one game during Mountain West play.

• During the last contest in Boise, Utah State scored a MW-series-record 83 points. The Broncos mounted a huge comeback in the game as USU led by 18 with just over four minutes to play. The Aggies even had a five-point lead with seven seconds to play before ultimately losing in overtime.

• Junior forward Justin Bean is averaging double-digit rebounds against the Broncos during his career, pulling down 10.3 per contest. In fact, Bean has pulled down double-digit rebounds in each of the last two games against BSU.

• Junior center Neemias Queta also has a strong stat line against Boise State during his career, averaging 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game against the Broncos.

• Boise State assistant coach Tim Duryea was head coach of the Aggies from 2015-18 and was an assistant with USU for 14 years prior to becoming the head coach.