Utah State vs Weber State Picks and Odds (Dec. 15)

• Utah State is a 2.5-point favorite against Weber State on Wednesday
• Weber State has won 15 straight home games, the 10th longest active streak in NCAA Division I
• Read below for analysis and a betting prediction

Utah State (7-3) is a 2.5-point road favorite at Weber State at 9 pm ET Wednesday on ESPN+. The Aggies lost the first game of their annual foray through the state to then-No. 24 BYU 82-71 on Dec. 8.

Weber State (9-1) won its first eight games, the best start in 36 years, before being routed 94-60 at Washington State on Dec. 8. Utah State is 2-2 in the last four in the season series, 1-3 ATS, after winning and covering the previous four.

Utah State vs Weber State Odds

Odds from FanDuel on Dec. 14.

Weber State will begin what some would consider its biggest week of the season, with home games against Utah State tonight and BYU on Saturday. Although neither game has a bearing on the Big Sky race, the Wildcats rank behind Utah, BYU and Utah State in the state hoop pecking order, and victories over the bigger three carry extra weight.

The Utah State and Weber State campuses are 52 miles apart in northern Utah.

Aggies Use Their Bean

Utah State forward 6’7 Justin Bean has opened the season with one of the best 10-game stretches Division I, and finding a way to handle him will be Weber State’s  biggest task.

Bean leads the Mountain West in scoring and rebounding per game — 21.1 points, 11.6 rebounds — and has seven double-doubles, tied for second in Division I. He is shooting 65.6 percent from the floor, sixth in Division I, and has made half of his 22 three-pointers. Bean had 24/19 to help the Aggies beat Oklahoma 73-70 in the finals of the holiday Myrtle Beach Invitational.

Bean had 20 points and seven rebounds in the road loss to BYU last Wednesday and came back with 14 and 8 when he was hardly needed in an 82-50 victory over New Orleans on Saturday. The Aggies limited New Orleans to 28.6 percent shooting and led 48-17 at half.

Guard Rylan Jones had a career-high 11 assists against the Privateers. Utah transfer Jones is averaging 8.9 points and 5.9 assists and Maryland-Baltimore County transfer 6’10 Brandon Horvath is averaging 12.7 points and 5.0 assists.

2021 @MyrtleInvite All-Tournament Team:

Justin Bean @USUBasketball – MVP
Rylan Jones @USUBasketball
Tanner Groves @OU_MBBall
Jalen Hill @OU_MBBall
Hyunjung Lee @DavidsonMBB

— Myrtle Beach Invitational (@MyrtleInvite) November 22, 2021

The Aggies have made their inside-out attack work. Not only are they are shooting 48.2 percent from he field,  36th in Division I, they also are making 9.3 3-pointers per game, which is 54th. They average 19.9 assists per game, third in Division I.

Utah State is a little deeper now that that junior guard Sean Bairstow is back. He had 11 points in 26 minutes against BYU after missing the first six games because of a broken wrist and a lacerated kidney.

Familiar Foe

Weber State leading scorer sixth-year senior 6’4 Koby McEwen is no stranger to Utah State. McEwen, averaging 15.6 points and 4.5 rebounds, played his first two seasons at Utah State, where he was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2017.

McEwen averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in two seasons with the Aggies before spending the most recent two at  Marquette, where he averaged 10.4 points in two seasons and was named the Eagles’ defensive player of the year in 2020.

The Wildcats are balanced behind McEwen. Forward 6’6 Dillion Jones (12.2), guard 6’3 Seikou Sisoho Jawara (12.2) and forward 6’6 JJ Overton (12.0) average in double figures in an efficient offense that is shooting 47 percent from the field, 27th in Division I.

Jones, the Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2021, is averaging a double-double with 10.3 rebounds per and has six double-doubles, one fewer than Bean. Sisoho Jawara is a preseason all-Big Sky selection after being named to the all-league second team a year ago. The Wildcats had a plus-4.9 turnover margin, 24th in Division I.

Weber State is ranked No. 6️⃣ in the latest @collegeinsider Mid-Major Top 25! #WeAreWeber #BigSkyMBB pic.twitter.com/V9lKVwf8m3

— Weber State MBB ? (@WeberStateMBB) December 6, 2021

By the Numbers

Utah State is ranked 57th in KenPom adjusted efficiency and is 67th in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Weber State is 112th in Ken Pom efficiency, the highest rated team in the Big Sky Conference. The Aggies are 6-3 ATS, 0-1 in their only true road game in an 11-point loss to BYU on Dec. 8.

Weber State is 5-4 ATS,  2-3 at home. The Wildcats can hardly be blamed for failure to cover their most recent home outing, an 82-36 victory over Maine-Fort Kent as a 53.5-point favorite The Aggies have won 10 of the last 13 in the series, 7-6 ATS.

The Mountain West Aggies have played a more challenging schedule, splitting games against Richmond, Oklahoma, Saint Mary’s and BYU. But these intra-state meetings have a special significance in Utah, where basketball is king.

The pick: Weber State +2.5 (-110)

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