Utah State vs. Texas A&M at a glance

UTAH STATE AGGIES
(27-7 overall, 14-2 in Western Athletic Conference/First)

Getting Here
u Utah State finished first in the Western Athletic Conference during the regular season with a 14-2 record. It was its third-straight regular season WAC title.
u Utah State won 17-straight games before losing to New Mexico State, 69-63, in the championship game of the WAC Tournament. That 17-game winning streak was tied for the third-longest in school history and was the second-longest active winning streak in the nation behind Butler who has won 20 straight games.
u Utah State has won 20 of its last 23 games since starting the year with a 6-4 record.
u Utah State is currently ranked 26th in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll with 24 votes and 28th in the latest Associated Press poll with 12 votes.
u Utah State has played in the championship game of the WAC Tournament four times in its five years in the league and nine times in its last 11 years overall when including its time in the Big West Conference.

WAC Tournament
u Utah State defeated Boise State, 84-60, in the quarterfinals, Louisiana Tech, 85-55, in the semifinals and lost to New Mexico State, 69-63, in the championship game.
u Senior guard Jared Quayle and junior forward Tai Wesley were both named to the all-tournament team.

Utah State Key Wins
W 66-60 at Weber State (Big Sky Conference Regular Season Champion)
W 71-61 vs. BYU (Mountain West Conference runner-up)
W 85-73 vs. Weber State (Big Sky Conference Regular Season Champion)
W 79-72 (OT) at Nevada (WAC runner-up)
W 76-65 vs. Nevada (WAC runner-up)
W 68-58 vs. Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference runner-up)
W 81-63 vs. New Mexico State (WAC Tournament Champions)

Utah State Key Losses
L 61-64 at Northeastern (Colonial Conference runner-up)
L 63-68 vs. Saint Mary’s (West Coast Conference Tournament Champion)
L 52-55 at New Mexico State (WAC Tournament Champions)
L 60-82 at Louisiana Tech
L 63-69 vs. New Mexico State (WAC Tournament Champions)

Utah State At The NCAA Tournament
u Utah State is making its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, its seventh in the last 11 years under head coach Stew Morrill and the school’s eighth in its last 13 years. USU has gone to the NCAA Tournament (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010) or the NIT (2002, 2004,2007, 2008) 12 times in the last 13 years. Overall, it is USU’s 19 NCAA Tournament appearance in school history (1939, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010).
u Utah State has received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in its five years in the WAC as it was also an at-large selection for the 2006 NCAA Tournament. USU also received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament in 1983 as a member of the Big West Conference.
u Utah State is playing in the postseason for the 11th straight year, extending its current school record, as it has gone to the NCAA Tournament seven times and the NIT four times.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES
(23-9 overall, 11-5 in Big 12 Conference)

*A&M is one of just 12 schools to make the last five NCAA Tournaments.
*A&M, Pittsburgh and Texas are the only teams in the 2010 field who have
won at least one NCAA game in each of the previous four tournaments.
*A&M is 23-9 overall and finished tied for second in the Big 12 at 11-5.
*A&M has won 9 of its last 12 games. Two of those losses were to overall
top seed Kansas in games in which A&M led in the second half. The third
loss was at No. 3 seed Baylor.
*A&M has played 11 nationally-ranked teams, which doesn’t even include
New Mexico, which was unranked when it played the Aggies in December.
A&M played five games against teams that were ranked in the top 10 this
week.
*All 9 A&M losses were to teams in the top 50 in the RPI, with six
losses to teams in the top 10 in the RPI.
*A&M’s senior class has won a school record 99 games.
*Mark Turgeon’s 72 wins at A&M are tied for third most by a coach in his
first three years at a Big 12 school. The only coaches who have won more
were Turgeon’s mentors at Kansas — Larry Brown and Roy Williams.