Utah State hosts SJSU on Saturday

This isn't your father's Utah State basketball program as there's a hole in the middle with the continued suspension of center Jarred Shaw. This was evident in the fall to Air Force on Wednesday as Coach Stew Morrill's guys were out-rebounded and allowed the Falcons to shoot 51%. Check out this game report.

As well-respected dean of the MWC beat reporters Geoff Grammer tweeted: "Utah State will be middle of MWC pack because Logan is so tough & Butterfield/Medlin are very good, but MWC is different beast than WAC."

It is indeed.

Yes, sharpshooting guard Preston Medlin (47% from long distance, 50/15 assist-to-turnover ratio) is back and tied for the lead with Spencer Butterfield (6.5 rebounds an outing) in scoring at 14.2 points per game. But the former stands 6-foot-4 and the latter 6-foot-3. Both are solid contributors but no Jaycee Carroll, meaning neither can take over a contest. They are best as cogs in a well-oiled and multi-threat offensive machine.

6-foot-7 forward Kyle Davis is contributing 10.1 points plus 8.6 rebounds (and 20 blocked shots) but it's a scramble after that as nobody else is steadily adding to the Aggie attack.

6-foot-7 freshman forward Jalen Moore will be a very good player in time but he's hit-and-miss at the moment.

Neither Ben Clifford at 6-foot-7 nor 6-foot-10 Jordan Stone are going to often outplay their respective opponents in the paint. Clifford can be a sneaky scorer but more if he's getting overlooked because of the focus being elsewhere. Stone is best at defending.

6-foot-6 Danny Berger, who went through that horrendous situation in a practice last year where his heart stopped, has receded a bit in his effect.

At the point Marcel Davis starts and TeNale Roland is his backup but neither is capable of a breakout offensive performance.

Things To Watch For

* The matchup is in The Spectrum and that cannot be ignored. Certainly call that a plus in USU's favor. But if Coach Dave Wojcik's crew are leading towards the end or grab a win, matters could get real ugly. Logan-ites are used not only to winning but being in contention for the top spot and accepting less is not going to happen.

* Can the Spartans bog down the Aggie offensive execution? Or at least enough of the time? There are a lot of years of experience residing on the roster in Logan so this will be fascinating to see what transpires.

* Will SJSU go to more of a dribble-drive penetration game seeing that Utah State is vulnerable in the middle? Such hasn't been the the method-of-operation to date.