Utah State basketball: 3 things to know about Missouri's NCAA tournament matchup
Missouri basketball has its opponent for the 2023 NCAA Tournament’s first round. The Tigers will kick off March Madness as a No. 7 seed on Thursday, facing off against No. 10 Utah State.
The game will happen in Sacramento, Calif., and if Missouri wins, it will face either Arizona or Princeton in the second round of the tournament, which is scheduled for Saturday, also In Sacramento.
Before the tournament officially starts, here’s what to know about the Aggies.
The numbers
Utah State finished the season 28-8 overall. The Aggies went 13-5 in Mountain West play.
The mark was good for the third overall seed in the Mountain West postseason tournament. USU blew out the No. 6 seed, New Mexico in the quarterfinal round, 91-76, then upset the No. 2 seed, Boise State in the semis.
The Aggie luck ran out in the MWC championship game. They faced off against the tournament’s top-seeded team, San Diego State, and weren’t able to pull of that upset, losing 62-57.
Still, the season will go down as a resounding success for Utah State. The Aggies were picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West preseason poll. Making the tournament as an at-large bid ranks as a solid accomplishment for the Aggies.
The win over Boise State was USU’s second such victory of the season. The Aggies won 86-73 when the Broncos traveled to Logan to close the regular season, after BSU won its home game in January.
The Aggies ranked No. 18 in KenPom after the regular season and conference tournaments wrapped up. They finished in the same spot in the NCAA’s NET rankings.
The coach
The Aggies are coached by Ryan Odom, who took the program over before the 2021-22 campaign. Utah State is not Odom’s first head coaching job, as he previously led Charlotte (interim role), Lenoir-Rhyne, and UMBC.
Odom has a history of upsets in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018, his UMBC squad became the first-ever No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1, when it took out Virginia in the first round, before falling in its next game against Kansas State.
When he took over the Retrievers in 2016-17, he immediately started to turn around a program that had been mired in losing and went 21-13. For his efforts, he earned the Joe B. Hall award, which goes to the top Division I first-year head coach.
Odom comes from a coaching family, as his father, Dave Odom, led Wake Forest, South Carolina and East Carolina before his retirement in 2008. Dave won 406 games throughout his career and won the NIT three times, the ACC tournament twice, ACC coach of the year three times and SEC coach of the year once.
Odom’s brother, Lane Odom, has a Missouri connection. He served as an assistant for the Tigers under Quin Snyder beginning in 2000, before resigning in 2004 after being implicated in a probe by the NCAA.
The players
The Aggies’ leading scorer is Steven Ashworth. The junior guard is averaging 16.3 points per game, along with 4.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals.
He was named first-team all-Mountain West. He was joined on the All-MWC team by Max Shulga, who made it as an honorable mention.
Shulga averages 11.2 points per game, plus 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists. He has averaged 43.2% from the field and 36.9% from three.
Ashworth was named to the Mountain West’s all-tournament team. He was joined on that list by graduate forward Taylor Funk.
Funk has averaged 13.3 points throughout the 2022-23 season. He has also contributed 5.5 rebounds per game, and shoots 90% from the free throw line.
The game is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. central time. It will be aired on TNT.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri basketball: What to know about Utah State for March Madness
