Utah State basketball: Aggies have their sights on title

MOSCOW, Idaho — Jaycee Carroll's basketball resume includes a lot of accolades he has accumulated during his four years at Utah State: All-American, Big West Conference Tournament MVP, and USU's all-time leading scorer, just to mention a token few.

The one item noticeably missing from his long list of accomplishments is a regular-season conference championship.

During his tenure, the Aggies have won a tournament championship and played in two NCAA Tournaments and a National Invitation Tournament.

Utah State and Carroll can take care of that hole in his resume when they travel to the University of Idaho tonight for the regular-season finale.

The game tips at 7.

"It would be a big deal for me," Carroll said. "It would be a good way to finish off this regular season. I haven't won one. I have been kind of close and kind of not. It's definitely something I would be excited about if it happens."

Utah State tied for second in its last season in the Big West Conference and first season in the Western Athletic Conference and fourth last year.

The Aggies began the two-game roady at WAC leader Boise State Thursday and beat the Broncos, 88-69. The win put Utah State in a four-way tie with Boise State, Nevada and New Mexico State.

A win over the Vandals, who are coming off a road sweep of San Jose State and Hawaii, would also give the Aggies a tie for the WAC title and the No. 1 seed at the conference tournament in Las Cruces next week.

The Vandals (8-19, 5-10) aren't the same pushovers they have been in the past. They have won six games at home and have won five league games — the most since joining the conference.

Jordan Brooks and Michael Crowell lead Idaho in scoring at 12.8 and 11.1 points, respectively.

The Aggies, on the night Carroll passed Greg Grant to become Utah State's all-time leading scorer, beat the Vandals 79-64 on Jan. 19 in Logan.

"When you take the other teams that are in the lower part of our league right now, they are all better than they were," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "Idaho goes and sweeps that trip (Hawaii and San Jose State) that we lost two on; you have to give them a lot of credit. They're playing well."

Nine of Idaho's 18 losses have been by 11 points or less.

Utah State leads the all-time series with the Vandals 26-12, and the Aggies are 12-6 in games played in Moscow.

The Aggies have won five straight games in the series, and their last to Idaho came in the Big West Conference opener in 2004, 69-62.

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Aggies on the air

Utah State (22-9, 11-4)

at Idaho (8-19, 5-10)

Today, 7 p.m.

Cowan Spectrum

TV: None Radio: 610 AM, 95.9 FM (Logan) or 1320 or 1230 AM (S.L.)

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com