This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Logan • Utah State's first two Mountain West Conference home games might be their biggest of the season.
Too bad. Both Saturday night's game against San Diego State and Tuesday's against Boise State are scheduled before USU students return from holiday vacation. Their absence was noticeable.
"This is a really big home stand for us," Aggie coach Tim Duryea said earlier this week. "It's tough that we don't have our students here on the nights that we play the top two teams in the league, as far as the preseason polls go. [But] we're not going to think about that. We'll just have to try and take care of our own responsibilities."
Duryea dismissed the idea the games against SDSU and Boise will determine whether the Aggies are season-long contenders in the Mountain West.
"It's a big week for us, no question about it. Our guys know that, but it isn't a must-win by any means [because] you're talking about the second and third conference games of the year," Duryea said. "You only get these teams on your home court one time, so we would like to take advantage of that, if we can."
San Diego State was picked first in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll.
The Aztecs return three starters from a team that went 27-9 last season and shared the regular-season conference championship with Boise.
Still, the Aztecs struggled in the November and December, going 7-6 in non-conference play, including losses to Arkansas-Little Rock (49-43), Grand Canyon (52-45) and San Diego (53-48).
"I'm still a believer," coach Steve Fisher told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "… I think we're as good as anybody in the league, which makes me say that we can win the league. But there are a [number] of teams saying, 'We've got good enough talent that, if we play a little bit better than we have played, we can win it, too.'"
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