The Utah State Aggies believe in the home court advantage.
“Aggie Nation always shows up,” Utah State coach Danny Sprinkle said after a 77-72 home victory over Colorado State on Saturday. “So, they deserve things like this.”
Utah State (14-1, 2-0) remained undefeated in Mountain West play and jumped over Colorado State into the No. 3 spot in this week’s Nevada Appeal Mountain West rankings.
A crowd of 10,200 at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah, saw the Aggies beat No. 4 Colorado State (13-2, 1-1).
“Spectrum Magic is real,” said Josh Uduje, a 6-foot-5 guard from London who had nine points off the bench for Utah State. “We were told about it before we even played a game here and tonight (Saturday) we really did see it.”
Great Osobor also played a huge role in the victory, scoring 20 points with 14 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Osobor was 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
“He had some big-boy rebounds down there in the second half,” said Sprinkle, who coached the 6-foot-8 Osobor the past two seasons at Montana State.
Utah State used a 10-0 run to take a 65-57 lead late in the second half. The Rams led 32-28 at halftime.
“We had an opportunity to have a bigger lead in the first half,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. “We were guarding really, really well.
“But our defense really kind of fell apart in the second half. We lost our discipline.”
No. 1 Nevada (14-1, 1-0), which hosted No. 12 Air Force on Tuesday night at Lawlor Events Center, won at Fresno State (72-57) on Saturday. Kenan Blackshear (18 points) and Jared Lucas (17) led Nevada on offense.
Nevada is 14-1 for the first time since it was also 14-1 in 2018-19. That Nevada team, coached by Eric Musselman, won 24 of its first 25 games before losing four of its last nine games to finish 29-5.
No. 2 San Diego State (13-2, 2-0) beat No. 7 UNLV (7-6, 0-1), 72-61 on Saturday. Jaedon LeDee had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Aztecs.
San Diego State was 23-of-30 from the free throw line at home while UNLV was 7-of-12.
“This was a very good win over a UNLV team that keeps improving,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said.
San Diego State jumped out to an 18-3 lead.
“Once the dust settled a little bit the guys did a good job competing,” UNLV coach Kevin Krueger said. “But it was just a rough start.”
Dedan Thomas and Luis Rodriguez led UNLV with 13 points each.
“Getting going early is something we have to figure out,” Krueger said.
San Diego State also gave a lot of credit for its victory to its home crowd of 12,414.
“It’s an incredible environment,” Dutcher said. “We start rolling downhill, the crowd gets in the game and the other team is wondering what is going on. Our crowd is everything to us.”
No. 5 New Mexico (13-2, 1-1) beat No. 8 Wyoming (8-7, 1-1), 77-60, in Albuquerque. Donovan Dent led the Lobos with 21 points.
Sam Griffin had 18 points and six rebounds for Wyoming.
Wyoming turned the ball over 23 times and led for just 93 seconds the entire game. The Cowboys, though, trailed just 47-40 with 14 minutes to play.
“To have the game come down to seven in the second half when (we) turned the ball over like we did, that is something to build off,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said.
“We aren’t talented enough to spot the good teams in our league so many points.”
New Mexico had a 28-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
No. 6 Boise State (10-4, 1-0) beat No. 9 San Jose State (7-8, 0-2) last Friday in San Jose State front of a crowd of just 2,287.
O’Mar Stanley had 30 points and 11 rebounds for Boise State, which also got 21 points and six rebounds from Tyson Degenhart.
Myron Amey had 30 points for San Jose State but just five of those points came in the second half after the Spartans built a 40-33 lead at halftime.
San Jose State was 6-of-14 on 3-pointers in the first half and 1-of-13 in the second half.
The Nevada Appeal Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Jan. 8:
1. NEVADA (14-1, 1-0): Last week: Nevada 72, Fresno State 57 (Jan. 6). This week: Air Force at Nevada (Jan. 9), Boise State at Nevada (Jan. 12).
2. SAN DIEGO STATE (13-2, 2-0): Last week: San Diego State 72, UNLV 61 (Jan. 6). This week: San Diego State at San Jose State (Jan. 9), San Diego State at New Mexico (Jan. 13).
3. UTAH STATE (14-1, 2-0): Last week: This week: Utah State 77, Colorado State 72 (Jan. 6). This week: Wyoming at Utah State (Jan. 9), Utah State at UNLV (Jan. 13).
4. COLORADO STATE (13-2, 1-1): Last week: Utah State 77, Colorado State 72 (Jan. 6). This week: Colorado State at Boise State (Jan. 9).
5. NEW MEXICO (13-2, 1-1): Last week: New Mexico 77, Wyoming 60 (Jan. 6). This week: New Mexico at UNLV (Jan. 9), San Diego State at New Mexico (Jan. 13).
6. BOISE STATE (10-4, 1-0): Last week: Boise State 78, San Jose State 69 (Jan. 5). This week: Colorado State at Boise State (Jan. 9), Boise State at Nevada (Jan. 12).
7. UNLV (7-6, 0-1): Last week: San Diego State 72, UNLV 61 (Jan. 6). This week: New Mexico at UNLV (Jan. 9), Utah State at UNLV (Jan. 13).
8. WYOMING (8-7, 1-1): Last week: New Mexico 77, Wyoming 60 (Jan. 6). This week: Wyoming at Utah State (Jan. 9), Fresno State at Wyoming (Jan. 13).
9. SAN JOSE STATE (7-8, 0-2): Last week: Boise State 78, San Jose State 69 (Jan. 5). This week: San Diego State at San Jose State (Jan. 9), San Jose State at Air Force (Jan. 13).
10. FRESNO STATE (7-8, 0-2): Last week: San Diego State 74, Fresno State 47 (Jan. 3), Nevada 72, Fresno State 57 (Jan. 6). This week: Fresno State at Wyoming (Jan. 13).
11. AIR FORCE (7-6, 0-1): Last week: No games. This week: Air Force at Nevada (Jan. 9), San Jose State at Air Force (Jan. 13).
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