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Utah State's men's basketball team tries to snap a three-game losing streak to BYU on Wednesday night, when the Aggies visit the Marriott Center.

Utah State hasn't beaten the Cougars since a 69-62 victory in the 2011-12 season opener. Last year, BYU scored a 91-81 win at the Spectrum.

"BYU is tremendously talented, as usual," Utah State coach Tim Duryea said. "They are a very, very good rebounding team and very underrated defensively. Their defensive field-goal percentage is phenomenal and, when you see them on film, you can understand why. … The help they give is two or three layers deep. They are very committed defensively."

Duryea had high praise for BYU star Kyle Collinsworth, who averages 15.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists in 31.7 minutes. He has led the Cougars to a 5-2 record.

"He is one of the most unusual players you'll see," Duryea said. "He can run the point, but he rebounds like a center. That's a highly, highly unusual guy that you have to deal with. He opens up a lot of things for other guys on the floor. … When you have a guy like that offensively, you are ahead of the game."

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Utah State hasn't played since a 69-68 win at Missouri State on Dec. 1. Junior college transfer Shane Rector buried two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining in he game to help the Aggies improve their record to 5-1.

"The break came at a good time," Duryea said. "We had a chance to work on a couple of things offensively, but the main thing is we worked on areas where we have to improve defensively. So it came at a great time for us."

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Duryea started Rector at point guard for the first time against Missouri State. He did not rule out another change in the starting lineup against BYU — one involving sophomore center-forward Elston Jones and Tulsa transfer Lew Evans.

"We'll stay with Shane at the point, for sure," Duryea said. "At the 'five' spot, it might be a game-by-game situation. It might be who's playing better or maybe there's a matchup that favors one guy over the other. … We're not afraid to change things up."

Jones averages five points and 4.2 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game. Evans averages 10 points and 6.2 rebounds in 19.7 minutes.

"Lew had a year off [after transferring] and Elston is still so young," Duryea said. "Both guys are feeling their way a little bit, for different reasons. So we might go by feel for awhile."

— Steve Luhm