1997–98 Utah State Aggies men's basketball team

1997–98 Utah State Aggies men's basketball
Big West tournament champions Big West East Division champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Big West Conference
Division	East
Record	25–8 (13–3 Big West)
Head coach	Larry Eustachy (5th season)
Associate head coach	Steve Barnes (2nd season)
Home arena	Smith Spectrum

1997–98 Big West men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East Division
Utah State†	13	–	3		.813			25	–	8		.758
Nevada	11	–	5		.688			16	–	12		.571
Boise State	9	–	7		.563			17	–	13		.567
Idaho	9	–	7		.563			15	–	12		.556
New Mexico State	8	–	8		.500			18	–	12		.600
North Texas	4	–	12		.250			5	–	21		.192
West Division
Pacific	14	–	2		.875			23	–	10		.697
Cal Poly	7	–	9		.438			14	–	14		.500
Cal State Fullerton	6	–	10		.375			12	–	16		.429
UC Irvine	6	–	10		.375			9	–	18		.333
Long Beach State	5	–	11		.313			10	–	19		.345
UC Santa Barbara	4	–	12		.250			7	–	19		.269
† 1998 Big West tournament winner As of April 10, 1998[1] Rankings from AP poll

The 1997–98 Utah State Aggies men's basketball team represented Utah State University in the 1997–98 college basketball season. This was head coach Larry Eustachy's 5th and final season at Utah State. The Aggies played their home games at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and were members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 25–8, 13–3 to finish atop the conference standings in the East division. They also won the Big West tournament to earn an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as No. 13 seed in the West Region. The Aggies lost to No. 4 seed Maryland in the first round.^[2]

Roster

1997–98 Utah State Aggies men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 3 Marcus Saxon 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 201 lb (91 kg) Sr   Columbia, South Carolina G/F 4 Kevin Rice 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 196 lb (89 kg) Sr   San Antonio, Texas G 5 Justin Jones 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) Sr   Malad, Idaho	Head coach Larry Eustachy Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Source^[3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 14, 1997*		Simon Fraser	W 79–67	1–0	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Nov 17, 1997*		at Minnesota Preseason NIT	W 75–64	2–0	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nov 19, 1997*		at Florida State Preseason NIT	L 55–66	2–1	Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, Florida
Nov 22, 1997*		Southern Oregon	W 111–61	3–1	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Nov 29, 1997*		BYU	W 72–69	4–1	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Dec 3, 1997*		at Wyoming	L 61–67	4–2	Arena-Auditorium  Laramie, Wyoming
Dec 6, 1997*		vs. San Diego State	W 64–61	5–2	Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 10, 1997*		at No. 9 Utah	L 55–71	5–3	Jon M. Huntsman Center  Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 20, 1997*		Long Island	W 100–84	6–3	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Dec 27, 1997*		Weber State	W 71–65	7–3	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Dec 30, 1997*		Fresno Pacific Gossner Classic	W 69–51	8–3	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Dec 31, 1997*		Radford Gossner Classic	W 80–73 ^3OT	9–3	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Jan 3, 1998*		at Colorado State	L 59–68	9–4	Moby Arena  Fort Collins, Colorado
Big West Regular Season
Jan 8, 1998		Pacific	W 70–62	10–4 (1–0)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Jan 10, 1998		Long Beach State	W 69–55	11–4 (2–0)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Jan 15, 1998		at Cal Poly	W 91–88 ^OT	12–4 (3–0)	Mott Gym  San Luis Obispo, California
Jan 17, 1998		at UC Santa Barbara	W 69–66 ^OT	13–4 (4–0)	UC Santa Barbara Events Center  Santa Barbara, California
Jan 22, 1998		Boise State	W 70–41	14–4 (5–0)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Jan 24, 1998		Idaho	W 68–66	15–4 (6–0)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Jan 29, 1998		at North Texas	W 79–64	16–4 (7–0)	UNT Coliseum  Denton, Texas
Jan 31, 1998		at New Mexico State	L 69–74	16–5 (7–1)	Pan American Center  Las Cruces, New Mexico
Feb 5, 1998		Nevada	W 74–52	17–5 (8–1)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Feb 7, 1998		Cal State Fullerton	W 69–44	18–5 (9–1)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Feb 12, 1998		at UC Irvine	W 60–51	19–5 (10–1)	Bren Events Center (1,679) Irvine, California
Feb 14, 1998		at Nevada	L 62–73	19–6 (10–2)	Lawlor Events Center  Reno, Nevada
Feb 19, 1998		at Idaho	W 59–50	20–6 (11–2)	Kibbie Dome  Moscow, Idaho
Feb 21, 1998		at Boise State	L 49–57	20–7 (11–3)	ExtraMile Arena  Boise, Idaho
Feb 26, 1998		New Mexico State	W 84–82 ^OT	21–7 (12–3)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Feb 28, 1998		North Texas	W 102–76	22–7 (13–3)	Smith Spectrum  Logan, Utah
Big West tournament
Mar 6, 1998*	(E1)	vs. (W4) Long Beach State Quarterfinals	W 69–61	23–7	Lawlor Events Center  Reno, Nevada
Mar 7, 1998*	(E1)	vs. (W2) Cal State Fullerton Semifinals	W 65–56	24–7	Lawlor Events Center  Reno, Nevada
Mar 8, 1998*	(E1)	vs. (W1) Pacific Championship game	W 78–63	25–7	Lawlor Events Center  Reno, Nevada
NCAA tournament
Mar 12, 1998*	(13 W)	vs. (4 W) No. 20 Maryland First round	L 68–82[2]	25–8	ARCO Arena  Sacramento, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Mountain.

Source^[4]

References

1. Big West MBB Record Book
2. "Terps are Too Tall An Order for Aggies". The Washington Post. March 13, 1998. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
3. "1997-98 Men's Basketball Roster". Utah State University Athletics. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
4. "1997-98 Men's Basketball Schedule". Utah State University Athletics. Retrieved December 29, 2022.