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LOGAN — In the second season of Ryan Odom's tenure, Utah State is going to the NCAA Tournament.
Picked a 10th seed, the Aggies will face No. 7 seed Missouri in a first round matchup on Thursday in Sacramento, California.
It's the fourth time in five years that Utah State has qualified for the tournament, doing so by compiling a 26-8 record to earn an at-large bid.
The Aggies were picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West preseason poll, but the Aggies exceeded expectations and finished tied for second in the conference and reached the conference tournament title game.
Despite losing All-Mountain West forwards Justin Bean and Brandon Horvath from last season's NIT team, the Aggies took a leap forward thanks to the development of guards Steven Ashworth, Max Shulga and Sean Bairstow, and the stellar play of front court transfers Taylor Funk and Dan Akin.
The Aggies opened the regular season with a program best 9-0, defeating four teams inside the top 100 of the NET in the span, including fellow NCAA Tournament team Oral Roberts.
The team faced setbacks midway through the season, though, and blew a big lead to Weber State at home in December and dropped a neutral site game to lowly SMU. In January, it lost three road conference games against Boise State, Nevada and San Diego State by double digits in January, and lost starting point guard Rylan Jones to injury.
Pushing past the midseason letdowns, the Aggies continued to polish its offense as it raised its level of defensive intensity and physicality.
In February, Utah State hit its stride and won home games over New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State to play its way back into the bubble conversation. A strong showing in the Mountain West Tournament solidified its tournament standing. Utah State beat New Mexico 91-76 in the quarterfinals round and Boise State in the semifinals before it lost to San Diego State in the title game
Utah State's overall resume speaks volumes. The team finished the season with a 2-5 record in Quad 1 games, 9-1 in Quad 2 games, 13-0 in Quad 3 and 1-2 in Quad one. The team boasts the 13th best adjusted offensive efficiency and finished 18th in KenPom ratings and 19th the NET.
The Aggies will look to snap an eight game NCAA Tournament losing streak and win its first game in the Big Dance since 2002.
