Bovine Blog: Previewing Air Force Falcons At No. 22 Utah State Aggies
Feb 28, 2024, 5:32 PM
LOGAN, Utah – It took a leaning, contested three at the end of regulation to force overtime, but Utah State scratched and clawed its way past Fresno State to stay atop the Mountain West standings. With three games to play and a tie-breaker lead over second-place Boise State, USU can’t afford to slip up in the final three regular season games.
The No. 22 Aggies (23-5, 11-4) look to complete the season-series sweep of Air Force (9-18, 2-13) on Friday, March 1, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. MT.
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🗣️ back to WORK!
Pay your rent by Friday at 9:00 PM ⬇️https://t.co/dB6qWgpr0R pic.twitter.com/BpE2VoyKYe
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 28, 2024
USU is 26-7 all-time against the Falcons and come into this game with five straight wins in the series. The Aggies beat Air Force 88-60 on the road to open Mountain West play in early January. Air Force has never won a game in Logan as they hope to snap a 14-game losing streak at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
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Air Force Looking To Spoil Spectrum Party
Led by fourth-year head coach Joe Scott, Air Force has lingered near the bottom of the conference all season but remains a challenging opponent. The Falcon’s two MW wins this season have come at New Mexico’s famed ‘Pit’ and at UNLV. Air Force lost its most recent game, 79-48, at home to Boise State.
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“One of the 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 leagues in college basketball”
Don’t act like we never told ya 😏#SixBidMW | #MWMBB pic.twitter.com/ugljgQ8pxB
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) February 28, 2024
The Falcons score 68.2 points a night (10th) while giving up 71.6 points (9th) on the defensive end. Utah State enters with the league’s second-best scoring offense, averaging 79.5 points per game. USU is sixth in the MW, allowing opponents 69.3 points. Air Force has made the most threes in the Mountain West this season, hitting 237 shots from deep at a 36.5 percent rate (2nd in MW).
Ethan Taylor and Beau Becker are tied as the 12th leading scorers in the league at 14.4 points per game. Becker connects on 49.7 percent of his shots, while Taylor knocks down 36.1 percent of his attempts from deep. The duo combined to make more than five threes per game this season.
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Brian Preece is a KSLsports.com insider covering the Utah State Aggies, Locals in MLB, and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees, Beehive baseball, and Aggie athletics coverage here.
