Thursday, March 13th, 4:30 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pan American Center (13,071) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: Local. Home Record: SJSU 7-5, USU 17-0. Away Record: SJSU 4-11, USU 5-8. Neutral Record: SJSU 2-2, USU 1-1. Conference Record: SJSU 4-12, USU 12-4. Series Record: Utah State leads, 39-21.

GAME NOTES: Trying to get back to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament title game for the third straight year, the Utah State Aggies go after the San Jose State Spartans in the quarterfinals of the event this afternoon at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. Although four teams finished the regular season in the WAC with a record of 12-4, it was USU that was named the top seed in the tournament. One of the more recent additions to the conference, coming over from the Big West, the Aggies have been a tough out in the tournament the last two years, taking Nevada to overtime in the 2006 title game and dropping a 72-70 decision to New Mexico State a year ago. As for the eighth-seeded Spartans, they got this event kicked off on Tuesday night with a narrow 64-62 win over Louisiana Tech in the first round. The victory was just the second in a dozen attempts in the tournament for the Spartans, a team that closed out the 2007-08 campaign on a five-game slide. The teams split a pair of regular season meetings, with each winning at home, which means the Aggies are ahead in the all-time series by a count of 39-21. The winner will take on the team that survives the meeting between Hawaii and Boise State.

Except for Justin Graham who tallied only three points in a mere 1-of-7 shooting from the field, every starter scored in double figures for the Spartans in the narrow win on Tuesday night. DaShawn Wright tallied a team- best 17 points, Tim Pierce tacked on 16 points and a team-best nine boards, but had to get beyond his 1-of-6 effort out on the perimeter. C.J. Webster added 13 points and Chris Oakes 11, as the pair combined for another 15 rebounds. Of the active players on the SJSU roster, four are scoring in double figures entering play today with Pierce atop the chart with his 11.5 ppg. Webster checks in with 11.2 ppg, followed by Graham (10.9 ppg) and Oakes (10.4 ppg), the latter also clearing nearly seven and a half rebounds per contest as well. Aside from Pierce, who has knocked down 69-of-200 behind the three-point line, the Spartans are devoid of a consistent perimeter threat because the rest of the unit has combined to make just 59 threes.

By closing out the season with five straight wins, the Aggies distinguished themselves as one of the most successful teams over the last decade. USU is one of only three teams (Gonzaga and Kansas) in the NCAA to win at least 23 games in each of the last nine seasons, with much of that success over the last few years coming from the play of Jaycee Carroll. The nation's top three-point shooter at 50.2 percent, Carroll was named the WAC Player of the Year after leading the conference with his 22.7 ppg, which also makes him 12th in the country. A 53.2 percent shooter from the floor who is 92.3 percent accurate at the free-throw line, there may be no one better in the country at shooting the ball from anywhere and everywhere on the floor. Thanks to the efforts of Carroll, the Aggies as a whole are first in the country in field goal shooting at 51.5 percent and also tops at the charity stripe (.793). Gary Wilkinson provided some much-needed support for Carroll, averaging 13.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg to take some of the burden off Carroll in the paint.

Getting the added time to rest, compared to SJSU which had to play the first game of the tournament on Tuesday, will certainly benefit the Aggies as they try to make their way to the NCAA Tournament.

Predicted Outcome

Utah State 79, San Jose State 70