How to watch No. 18 Utah State play San Diego State in the MWC tournament semifinals

No. 1 seed Utah State (27-5)

vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State (23-9)

Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals

Tip: Friday, 7:30 p.m. MDT.

Venue: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.

TV: CBS Sports Network.

Livestream: CBS Sports Network.

Radio: 1280 AM, 97.5 FM.

Series: San Diego State leads, 19-9. The Aggies and Aztecs split a pair of regular-season games, with each team winning at home. Utah State’s victory snapped a five-game SDSU winning streak in the series.

The trends

For Utah State: The Aggies (27-5, 14-4 Mountain West) are on a six-game winning streak after beating Fresno State in overtime in the quarterfinals of the MWC tournament on Thursday. The start of that winning streak was a victory over San Diego State back on Feb. 20.

For San Diego State: The Aztecs (23-9, 11-7 MWC) lost to UNLV by four and Boise State by two the week before the conference tournament, losses that dropped San Diego State to the No. 5 seed in the tourney. The Aztecs beat the Rebels in overtime on Thursday in the quarterfinals to advance.

Quotable

“It’s a testament to our whole season. We’ve been preparing for moments like that the whole season, close games and stuff, and executing at the end of games. I think that prepared us.” — Utah State guard Javon Jackson

“They’ve got guys that have played in important games in March, and I think they’ll be ready for their opportunity and so will we.” — San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher

The stakes

For Utah State: The Aggies are an NCAA Tournament lock, but a deep run in Las Vegas could only improve their seeding in a league that’s being projected to send as many as six teams to the NCAAs. Utah State is now No. 30 in the NET rankings and is 4-4 against Quad 1 opponents, 5-1 against Quad 2 opponents, 6-0 against Quad 3 opponents and 10-0 against Quad 4 opponents.

For San Diego State: The Aztecs, who reached the national championship game last year, are also an NCAA Tournament lock. San Diego State comes into the contest at No. 20 in the NET rankings, the highest in a league that has six teams in the top 34 of the NET. The Aztecs are 4-8 against Quad 1 opponents, 6-1 against Quad 2 opponents, 5-0 against Quad 3 opponents and 6-0 against Quad 4 opponents.

Players to watch

For Utah State: In Thursday’s quarterfinals win, Great Osobor showed why he’s the MWC Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, scoring 29 points while adding 17 rebounds, four assists and two steals against a Bulldogs team that had no answer for him. Jackson added a career-high 16 points on his 22nd birthday with Mason Falslev unavailable for the first time this season, and Darius Brown II was solid yet again, with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Another name to watch is Ian Martinez, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.0 points per game — he’s scored 20 or more points twice in the last four games.

For San Diego State: Jaedon LeDee is where things all begin for the Aztecs — the first-team All-Mountain performer led the conference in scoring (20.9 points per game) while also averaging 8.5 rebounds. In Thursday’s quarterfinals, he put up 34 points and 16 rebounds in the win over UNLV. Lamont Butler was named the MWC Defensive Player of the Year — he finished second in the league in steals in conference games while averaging 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game.