Utah State basketball: Aggies check in at No. 17 in coaches poll

Utah State, riding an 18-game winning streak and atop the Western Athletic Conference standings, is climbing up the national top-25 polls and is now ranked higher than the Aggies have been since the 1971 season.

Checking in at No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and No. 21 in the Associated Press poll, the Aggies — 23-1 overall and 11-0 in the WAC — are climbing the polls and leapfrogged several historically strong programs such as Syracuse, Illinois, Gonzaga and Purdue in the coaches poll.

USU was No. 22 last week in the coaches poll and No. 25 in the AP poll but picked up a pair of wins over New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech to climb the rankings.

This week, the Aggies have a difficult road trip to Idaho (Thursday) and Boise State (Saturday) and have a chance to wrap up the WAC regular-season title.

The University of Utah checked in with nine points in the coaches poll to be ranked No. 35 and four points in the AP poll — good enough for 37th. BYU received four points in the coaches poll to check in at No. 37.

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