FINAL: Utah State 67, No. 20 San Diego State 66

SAN DIEGO — The meat of Mountain West Conference play kicks off on Saturday afternoon as No. 20 San Diego State welcomes a Utah State team that is once again off to a hot start for a 3 p.m. tip-off at Viejas Arena.

SDSU (8-2, 1-0 Mountain West Conference) last played on Dec. 21, knocking off the California Golden Bears at the San Jose Tip-Off at the SAP Center 71-50. Nick Boyd scored all 17 of his points in the second half, leading the Aztecs in scoring for the third time this season, while the defense had the Scarlet and Black’s second-best first half since at least 1996-97 by holding the Golden Bears to 15.6% (5 of 32) shooting.

The Aggies (11-1, 1-0), who are receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today Coaches polls, earned a 75-68 road win at Saint Mary's on Dec. 22 for their second Quad 1 win of the season. Utah State has their fourth new head coach in the past seven seasons in Jerrod Calhoun — previously of Youngstown State — who has the Aggies unbeaten in four games played outside of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, with their lone loss coming at home to UC San Diego on Dec. 17.

Guards sophomore Falslev and graduate Ian Martinez have been a problematic pair for opposing defenders, combining to generate 34.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 3.3 steals per game — they are one of two duos in the country where each averages at least 17 points and three assists per game. Falslev has earned three Mountain West Player of the Week awards thus far, most recently for the week of Dec. 16, while Martinez leads the conference by hitting 90.8% from the charity stripe (69 of 75) and has the 13th-most free throw makes in the country.

Both teams are near the top of the country in at least one defensive statistic, with the Aztecs leading the country by averaging 7.0 blocks per game for games completed through Dec. 23. Magoon Gwath has played air traffic controller, with his 3.4 blocks per game ranking second in the land – 45 of SDSU's 70 blocks have come from freshmen.

The Aztecs also top the Mountain West and rank third in the nation by holding opponents to 34.8% from the field and have forced five of their nine opponents to their worst shooting night of the season. USU is second in the conference by swiping 9.8 steals per game, which ranks 19th nationally, led by Falslev's 2.17 pocket-picks per game.

The Aztecs and Aggies last met in a Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinal, with SDSU pulling away from a USU team that had won its first outright Mountain West regular season title for an 86-70 win. Utah State has not won at Viejas Arena (0-10) since joining the conference in 2013-14.

Catch up on coverage leading into Saturday:

• Defense travels for No. 23 SDSU in grinding blowout over California
• A look at how SDSU compares to other Mountain West teams as conference play resumes (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Touched by students' struggles, Aztecs pledge NIL money to support food pantry (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Aztecs Basketball Preview: SDSU vs. Utah State (East Village Times)