Sam Merrill, Seniors Honored As Aggies Prepare For San Jose State

LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State Aggies will honor four players when they play their final regular season home game on Tuesday night against the San Jose State Spartans.

The Aggies will honor Sam Merrill, Diogo Brito and Roche Grootfaam, along with redshirt junior Abel Porter.

Utah State is currently on a 5-game winning streak, holding a 22-7 overall record and 11-5 in Mountain West Conference play. They are in second place in the standings, tied with Nevada.

San Jose State is on a seven game losing streak with a 7-21 overall mark and 3-13 in conference play. They are in 10th in the Mountain West standings.

The Aggies have dominated the all-time series against the Spartans with a 61-19 record and have won 24 of the last 25 meetings including the last three games. Since joining the Mountain West in 2013, Utah State is 11-1 against San Jose State.

These two teams met earlier this season on December 4 in San Jose with the Aggies pulling out a 71-59 win. Justin Bean notched a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Honoring Seniors

The Aggies have been impacted by the play of their seniors, including Sam Merrill. He became the fourth Aggie in school history and just the sixth player in MW history to surpass 2,000 career points. Merrill currently has 2,078 points to rank No. 3 all-time in USU history and needs 50 more points to finish second. The Bountiful, Utah native is leading the Aggies in scoring this season with 18.9 points per game.

I know it’s a late night, midweek game, but us seniors would sure love to see a packed Spectrum one last time. Be there! https://t.co/wUKM3G5dO2

— Sam Merrill (@smerrill05) February 24, 2020

Brito is averaging 8.6 points, 2.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds this season and through his 4-year career he posted 6.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2 assists in 115 games played.

Grootfaam played in 10 games this season as a junior college transfer. He is posting 3.2 points and one rebound per game.

Porter was a walk-on before being awarded a scholarship last season. The Davis High School star has played in 89 games in four years with Utah State. Through his career, Porter is averaging 4.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists. This season, he is recording 6.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

San Jose State Struggling

The Spartans have lost their last seven games and 10 of their last 11. Their conference wins came against New Mexico, Nevada and Air Force, all at home.

They are led by guard Seneca Knight who is averaging 17 points and 5 rebounds per game. Richard Washington is adding 10.4 points and 4.1 boards per contest.

San Jose State has won just one game on the road and that was at Hofstra in the season opener but have lost the last 11 contests away from home. Utah State has a 14-1 record at home with their only loss coming against San Diego State.

He Got Game.

Spartan sophomore @Sen_13_ dropped a career-high 37 points on the road today at Colorado State!! #SpartanUp pic.twitter.com/BPZhsAmhkj

— San Jose State Athletics (@SJSUAthletics) February 23, 2020

The Aggies and Spartans will tip-off at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night and will be broadcast on ESPN2.