• Utah State opens Mountain West Conference play this week with a pre-Christmas contest at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum against Colorado State on Saturday, Dec. 20.
• Utah State enters conference play with just a single loss, sitting at 9-1. The Aggies have now started each of the past four seasons 9-1 or better. Overall, this is the 14th 9-1 or better start in program history.
• Since joining the Mountain West in 2013-14, Utah State has gone 8-4 in conference openers, including wins in each of the past three and five of the past six. Last season, the Aggies opened their league slate with a 70-67 home win over Wyoming.
• Utah State currently ranks No. 29 in the NET Rankings. The Aggies are the highest-ranked MW squad and are one of seven teams from the league in the top-100. USU is also receiving votes in both the AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll.
• Senior guard MJ Collins Jr. ranks 24th in the nation this season with 20.6 points per game, as he's scored 20-plus points in six of 10 games this year. He also ranks 15th nationally in 3-point percentage at 49.2 percent.
• As a team, Utah State currently ranks sixth in the NCAA in steals, averaging 11.1 per contest. The duo of Mason Falslev and Drake Allen each rank among the nation's leaders in takeaways — Falslev ranking seventh in the country with 3.00 steals per contest, Allen ranking 19th with 2.44.
• Utah State currently ranks in the top 75 in the nation in several major statistical categories, including steals (6th - 11.1), turnovers forced (15th - 16.60), winning percentage (24th - .900), field goal percentage (25th - .509), turnover margin (26th - +4.3), assists (27th - 18.6), scoring margin (30th - +16.9), fastbreak points (32nd - 16.90), assist/turnover ratio (58th - 1.51), scoring defense (63rd - 67.6), 3-point field goal percentage (64th - .370), scoring offense (69th - 84.5) and field goal defense (74th - .410).
• Saturday's game will be the 110th all-time matchup between Utah State and Colorado State, the fourth-most played rivalry in USU program history. The Aggies lead the all-time series 63-46, including a 39-13 advantage at home.
