COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-Thursday and Saturday, Utah State men’s basketball (5-3, 1-1 in Mountain West Conference play) visits Clune Arena of Colorado Springs, Colo. to face the Air Force Falcons (3-3, 1-1 in Mountain West play).
Utah State scores 77.4 points per game, tying the Aggies for 97th nationally with Colorado in scoring offense.
Defensively, the Aggies surrender 66.8 points per game, tying Utah State for 112th nationally in scoring defense with Southern Illinois.
Redshirt junior guard Marco Anthony (13.4 points per game) is the Aggies’ leading scorer.
Also scoring in double figures for Utah State on-average are freshman guard Rollie Worster (11.9 points per game, team-bests in assists [26] and steals [9]), junior forward Justin Bean (11.8 points, 8.8 rebounds per game) and Portuguese national, junior center Neemias Queta (11.6 points per game, a team-best 8.9 rebounds per contest, a team-best 21 blocked shots).
The Aggies are coached by third-year head coach Craig Smith who is 59-18 (.766) at Logan. As a Division I head coach, Smith is 138-73 (.654) as he also coached at South Dakota (2014-2018).
Air Force scores 58 points per game, ranking them 321st nationally in scoring offense out of 329 eligible schools for these statistics.
Defensively, the Falcons surrender 64.8 points per game, ranking Air Force 80th nationally in scoring defense.
Senior guard Chris Joyce (14.5 points per game) is Air Force’s leading scorer. The only other Falcon to score in double figures on-average is junior guard A.J. Walker (12.8 points per game). Walker is also tied for the team lead in steals (11) with senior forward Keaton Van Soelen. Van Soelen also leads the squad in assists (20) and blocked shots (4).
Sophomore forward Nikc Jackson leads the Falcons on the glass with 4.5 boards per contest.
Air Force is coached by Joe Scott who is 54-66 (.450) in two separate stints with the Falcons (2000-2004; 2020-present).
Scott is 238-243 (.495) as a Division I head coach, having also coached at Princeton (2004-2007) and Denver (2007-2016).
The Aggies lead the Falcons 19-6 all-time and 7-6 at Colorado Springs.
