LOGAN, Utah – Utah State men's basketball will be making its 24th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time, including its 12th in the last 25 years, when the eighth-seeded Aggies face ninth-seeded TCU in the first round of the Midwest Region on Friday, March 21, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
Game times and broadcast information for all NCAA Tournament games will be announced Sunday night.
 
Utah State's eight seed is tied with the 2018-19 team for the best seed in school history. In fact, it is just the second time in school history USU has been a single-digit seed.
 
Utah State is receiving an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year and fifth time in school history, joining the 2006, 2010, 2021 and 2023 teams. The 2006 and 2010 teams were both 12-seeds, while the 2021 and 2023 teams were both 10-seeds.
 
Utah State (27-6 overall, 14-4 Mountain West) is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six years (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) and last won a game in the NCAA Tournament in 2001, when the 12th-seeded Aggies recorded a 77-68 overtime win against fifth-seeded Ohio State in the first round. USU also earned the Mountain West's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Utah State has played in the NCAA Tournament 15 previous times since seedings started in 1980. Overall, USU has been listed as an eighth seed twice (2019, 2024), a 10th seed three times (1983, 1988, 2023), an 11th seed three times (1980, 2009, 2021), a 12th seed six times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2010, 2011), a 14th seed once (2005) and a 15th seed once (2003).
 
Utah State won its first outright Mountain West regular season championship this year in its 11th season in the conference. USU also shared the regular season title in 2019. USU enters the NCAA Tournament with an 8-2 record in its last 10 games after losing to San Diego State (86-70) in the semifinals of the MW Championship, snapping the Aggies six-game winning streak.
 
Entering the NCAA Tournament, Utah State has an NCAA Men's Basketball NET Ranking of 38, an overall strength of schedule of 89, 13 wins away from home with an 8-4 road record and a 5-1 mark on neutral courts, and a 4-5 record against Quad 1 teams with two wins against Boise State, along with wins against New Mexico and San Diego State. USU also has a 4-1 record against Quad 2 opponents, a 7-0 record against Quad 3 opponents, and a 10-0 record against Quad 4 opponents.
 
This will be the first time that Utah State and TCU will be playing one another in the NCAA Tournament. Overall, it will be the third meeting in series history as USU posted an 87-61 road win during the 1960-61 season and an 84-59 home win on Dec. 29, 1982.
 
TCU is 21-12 on the season and tied for seventh in the Big 12 Conference after posting a 9-9 league mark. The Horned Frogs, who are 9-8 away from home this season, have lost four of their last six games heading into the NCAA Tournament and lost to No. 1 Houston 60-45 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. TCU is led by senior forward Emanuel Miller, who is averaging 15.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while senior guard Jameer Nelson Jr., is averaging 11.3 points and senior guard Micah Peavy is averaging 11.1 points per game.
 
This will be the sixth time that Utah State has played a team from the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament and first time since it lost to sixth-seeded Texas Tech (65-53) in the first round.
 
Utah State, who is ranked No. 18 in the nation in the latest Associated Press poll, had four players honored by the Mountain West this season. Junior wing Great Osobor was named the Mountain West Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, while graduate guard Darius Brown II was named to the first team and defensive team, and senior guard Ian Martinez was named to the honorable mention team. Furthermore, junior guard Josh Uduje was named the Co-Sixth Man of the Year. Osobor is the eighth player in school history to earn conference Player of the Year honors.
 
Osobor is averaging 18.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals in 33.8 minutes per game, while shooting 58.3 percent (208-of-357), including 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from 3-point range, and 63.3 (174-of-275) from the free throw line. Martinez is averaging 13.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks in 30.7 minutes per game, while shooting 47.3 percent (134-of-283), including 37.8 percent (48-of-127) from 3-point range, and 86.0 percent (104-of-121) at the free throw line. Brown is averaging 12.4 points, 6.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 36.0 minutes per game, while shooting 44.3 percent (143-of-323), including 39.5 percent (60-of-152) from 3-point range, and 86.5 percent (64-of-74) from the free throw line. And Uduje is averaging 8.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 24.2 minutes per game, while shooting 42.0 percent (103-of-245) from the field, including 26.5 percent (26-of-98) from 3-point range, and 73.5 percent (50-of-68) at the free throw line.
 
Redshirt freshman guard Mason Falslev is averaging 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 28.1 minutes per game, while shooting 56.8 percent (150-of-264), including 29.5 percent (23-of-78) from 3-point range, and 64.2 percent (43-of-67) at the free throw line. And redshirt sophomore center Isaac Johnson is averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game, while shooting 47.9 percent (80-of-167), including 34.3 percent (23-of-67) from 3-point range, and 82.4 percent (28-of-34) at the free throw line.
 
Osobor was also named to the Mountain West all-tournament team as he averaged 24.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game, while shooting 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the field and 58.8 percent (20-of-34) at the free throw line.
 
Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle, the 2023-24 Mountain West Coach of the Year, is 27-6 (.818) in his one season at Utah State and 108-49 (.688) in five seasons as a collegiate head coach. Sprinkle is coaching in the NCAA Tournament for the third time as he led Montana State to back-to-back appearances in 2022 and 2023. Ironically, this will be the third-straight Big 12 opponent for Sprinkle in the NCAA Tournament as his Bobcats played Texas Tech and Kansas State in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
 
Utah State has four players on its current roster with NCAA Tournament experience in Osobor, Brown, Martinez and graduate wing Max Agbonkpolo. Martinez played in two games in the 2023 NCAA Tournament while at Maryland as he scored seven points and had three rebounds against No. 1 seed Alabama in the round of 32 and did not score in the first round against West Virginia. Osobor played in two NCAA Tournaments at Montana State. In 2023 against third-seeded Kansas State, he started and had 11 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, two steals and one assist in 35 minutes. Against third-seeded Texas Tech in 2022, he had four points, four rebounds and one steal in 19 minutes off the bench. Brown played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament at Montana State against third-seeded Kansas State and had 12 points, nine assists and three rebounds in 35 minutes as he started the game. And Agbonkpolo, who is our for the season with an injury, played in five NCAA Tournament games during his time at USC. 
 
The winner of the Utah State-TCU game will play the winner of one-seeded Purdue and the play-in game between 16-seeds Montana State and Grambling State on Sunday, March 24.
 
Fans should stay tuned to www.UtahStateAggies.com as well as its social media platforms at @USUBasketball for complete NCAA Tournament information, including game time announcement.