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LOGAN, Utah After winning its first-ever Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship last weekend, Utah State¹s men¹s basketball team returned to the national rankings as it checked in at No. 25 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll released Monday. USU is also ranked 32nd in the latest Associated Press poll.
Utah State, who is 30-4 on the season, was ranked for three straight weeks in February and climbed as high as 17th in the coaches poll and 21st in the AP poll. USU¹s 30 wins this year are a school record as it went 14-2 in league play to win the outright league title as well.
Utah State will be playing in its 18th NCAA Tournament in school history this week and its sixth in the last 10 years under head coach Stew Morrill. Overall, USU has advanced to 10 straight postseasons (6-NCAA, 4-NIT), which is tied with Notre Dame for the 15th-longest active streak in the nation.
Utah State is ranked in the top 25 for just the second time in the last 31 years as the last time a USU team was ranked was during the 2003-04 season when it was ranked for six straight weeks. Prior to that, USU¹s last national ranking was during the 1977-78 season when it finished the year ranked 17th in the United Press International poll.
With its 30-4 record this season, Utah State has the second-most wins and second-best record in the nation behind Memphis who is 31-3 overall.
Over the last 10 years, Utah State has averaged 25.2 wins and its 76.6 winning percentage (252-77) during that time period is the fourth-best in the nation. USU is also one of just three teams in the nation to post 10 straight 23-win seasons along with Gonzaga and Kansas.
Utah State also enters the NCAA Tournament as the nation¹s top field goal percentage team as it is shooting 49.8 percent overall. USU also led the nation in field goal shooting last year at 51.4 percent and in free throw shooting at 79.2 percent.
Overall, USU ranks among the top-16 in the nation in nine different statistical categories as it is leading the nation in field goals shooting (.498), ranks second in winning percentage (.882), is fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.45), 10th in fewest turnovers per game (11.3), 13th in fewest personal fouls committed per game (15.2), 13th in rebounding margin (+7.0), 15th in assists per game (16.3), 16th in scoring margin (+10.8), and 16th in three-point shooting (.398).
Senior forward Gary Wilkinson, who was named the WAC Player of the Year this season, leads Utah State in both scoring and rebounding as he is averaging 17.1 points and 6.9 boards per game, while shooting 58.6 percent from the field and 83.0 percent from the free throw line. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the WAC Tournament.
Utah State returns to action this Friday, March 20 when it plays No. 24 Marquette in the first round of the NCAA West Region in Boise, Idaho at 10:30 a.m. (MT).
