Logan • The Utah State men’s basketball team has finalized its 2017-18 schedule, a slate that will include a trio of in-state rivalry games — including both BYU and Utah — and a road meeting with NCAA Tournament runner-up Gonzaga.
The season gets under way when the Aggies open at Weber State on Nov. 10.Utah State has won four of the last five games against the Wildcats andthree of the last four in Ogden.The road opener will mark the third consecutive year that the Aggies have opened on the road, including a 73-70 victory over Weber State to open the 2015-16 season.
USU will host Montana State in its home opener on Nov. 13, and follows that contest up with another home game two days later, welcoming Mississippi Valley State to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Wednesday,Nov. 15. Utah State has won 23 consecutive home openers and is 51-9 in home openers, dating back to the 1957-58 season.
“Our non-conference season is, once again, very strong,” Aggies coach Tim Duryea said in a statement. “Weber State will kick it off again and that is always a tough opener with them.”
The Aggies will open a 12-day road trip and take part in the PK80, celebrating the 80thbirthday of Nike founder Paul Knight, facing Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash., on Nov. 18. That game will be followed by a contest against Portland State on Nov. 20, and then a pair of neutral site games against Northeastern and New Hampshire in Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 24-25.
Utah State wraps up the road trek in Valparaiso, Ind., facing Valparaiso on Nov. 28, as part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge.
“We will have a unique opportunity to take part in the PK80,” Duryea said. “Playing at Gonzaga will be a tremendous opportunity and it is a team that we have not played since I’ve been here. It isn’t often in college basketball that you are on the road for 12 days, but we’ve got that in November and that will be a challenge for our team.”
The Aggies will return to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for back-to-back home games to open the month of December, hosting BYU on Saturday, Dec. 2 and UC Irvine on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
Utah State then renews its second-longest rivalry in school history, facing Utah at Vivint Smart Home Arena in the Beehive Classic on Saturday, Dec. 9. The two teams have not faced since the 2010 season, a79-62 victory for the Aggies in Logan.
“That will be agreat day for basketball fans, watching four in-state schools go at itin Salt Lake,” Duryea said of the Beehive Classic. “We are looking forward to renewing that rivalry with Utah and facing them at a neutral site.”