Utah State just won its first outright Mountain West regular season title, and voters have taken notice.
The Aggies jumped four spots to No. 18 in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll following a pair of wins this past week, including Saturday’s dramatic victory, which involved a game-winning shot from Darius Brown II that sunk New Mexico.
BYU remained at No. 20 in the poll after falling short at Iowa State and then beating Oklahoma State on senior night at the Marriott Center. The Cougars have now been ranked for 14 weeks this season, the most since being ranked every week of the magical 2010-11 campaign.
Utah State received 486 votes to finish between No. 17 Gonzaga and No. 19 Alabama. BYU earned 343 points from voters, slotting in behind the Crimson Tide and ahead of No. 21 Saint Mary’s.
In addition to the Cougars, five Big 12 teams are listed in the rankings — No. 1 Houston, No. 7 Iowa State, No. 14 Baylor, No. 16 Kansas and No. 25 Texas Tech. Texas each picked up 14 votes in the unranked realm.
Aside from the Aggies, Nevada entered the poll at No. 23 as the only other ranked Mountain West squad.
As for advanced metrics, BYU remains at No. 12 in NET and No. 16 in KenPom, while Utah State stands at No. 32 and No. 44, respectively.
BYU is 6-7 in Quad 1 opportunities while the Aggies are 5-4 in such contests.
The Cougars — who finished 10-8 in their first year of Big 12 play — look to make noise in their conference tournament this week. They’ll face either Oklahoma State or UCF Wednesday morning in Kansas City.
Meanwhile, the Mountain West regular season champions Utah State will face either Fresno State or Wyoming in the conference quarterfinals Thursday in Las Vegas.