Utah State, BYU basketball: Unbeaten BYU takes trip to Logan

LOGAN — When BYU's unbeaten Cougars take the court at Utah State's Spectrum tonight, they'll have to play against a team that has won 23 or more games for 10 seasons in a row and is hitting its stride after a rough road trip to open the year.

But as good as the team itself typically is, there are 10,000 additional reasons the Aggies might worry BYU.

"They've got a great crowd and they love their team," BYU coach Dave Rose said, "and right now they've got a nice little streak going, so it will be a good test for us."

Utah State, 3-2 after winning a pair of home games last week against Idaho State and Southern Utah, is eager to see what it can do against another quality opponent like undefeated BYU.

The rivalry, 226 games long, returns to the Spectrum for the first time since 2005, and that hasn't set well with a number of the 10,000-plus fans who will crowd into the Spectrum for tonight's 7 p.m. tipoff.

A concession by BYU in the buyout of a 2004 football game between the two schools in Logan gave USU a home basketball game against the Cougars for three years in a row (2003-05) while BYU had the Aggies in the Marriott Center on the typical every-other-year schedule.

When it came time to renew the contract between the two basketball programs in 2007, BYU wanted to start it out with a game in Provo — making it two years in a row at the Marriott Center. Morrill preferred the series continue with the traditional arrangement of playing in Provo one year and Logan the next.

No agreement could be made and the teams did not play during the 2007-08 season — interrupting the 200-plus game series — but met at EnergySolutions Arena last year, a 68-63 BYU win.

Ever since the series was interrupted two years ago, Aggie fans have maintained BYU and Rose are "afraid" of playing in the Spectrum.

The Cougars, on the other hand, argue the series had become lopsided in USU's favor when it came to where it was played.

Whatever the case, BYU's first trip to Cache Valley in four years is destined to be a loud one.

"Our fans get crazy for games like this," Utah State swingman Pooh Williams said. "I can't wait."

The Aggies, even with a 36-game home-court winning streak on the line, will certainly be tested by the Cougars.