GAME NOTES: Hoping to put a two-game slide behind them, the Nevada Wolf Pack host the Utah State Aggies in Mountain West Conference play at the Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday night.

Since finally showing signs of life with four straight victories, the Wolf Pack have returned to their weak offensive ways and lost consecutive league bouts, which puts them at 2-2 against the rest of the MWC. A 69-66 setback versus Fresno State on Jan. 10 wasn't all that bad, but a week later Nevada was pummeled by Colorado State at Moby Arena, 98-42.

As for the Aggies, they've won three of their first five league outings, thanks to a 71-59 triumph over Air Force on Saturday at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The victory snapped a two-game slide for a program that has yet to win back-to-back road tests in 2014-15.

Of the 48 previous games played between the programs, USU has won 32 although the Pack has won three of the last five encounters. Last season, each side won at home, with the Aggies capturing an 83-75 victory in Logan and Nevada turning the trick in Reno, 62-54.

Against Air Force, the Aggies scored the first points of the afternoon and never looked back, owning a double-digit lead at the break thanks to 7-of-14 shooting behind the 3-point line. For the game, USU converted an impressive 13-of-23 out on the perimeter and 54.2 percent from the floor overall. Chris Smith made good on all but one of his seven tries from the outside, finishing with a team-best 20 points.

Also scoring in double figures for the Aggies was Jalen Moore with 15 points, adding six rebounds and four assists, while Darius Perkins stepped up with a double-double consisting of 11 points and 10 of his team's 22 assists.

In conference play, the Aggies are limiting opponents to only 56.0 ppg on 38.4 percent shooting from the floor, not to mention watching those foes convert only 59.4 percent at the free-throw line. However, USU has been far worse at the charity stripe in those five MWC bouts, barely hitting half (36-of-71) of the chances they've been afforded and for that reason the Aggies are coming up with just 61.2 ppg. Moore and Smith account for close to half that number with 16.6 and 12.6 ppg, respectively.

The effort made by Nevada in the meeting against the Rams was simply atrocious, the visitor making just five field goals in 30 tries in the first half, en route to an ugly 55-12 deficit at the break. The second half was better, the team making good on 52.0 percent from the floor, but by then the damage had already been done as the Pack finished with just as many turnovers (18) as field goals.

AJ West was the lone double-digit scorer with 10 points, to go along with nine rebounds, for a group that shot only 1-of-10 beyond the arc and 5-of-11 at the free-throw line, all while recording a miserable three assists and a season- low in scoring.

West, who came up a rebound shy of registering his fourth straight double- double, is averaging 9.5 rpg to go along with his 11.7 ppg. A 50.8 percent shooter from the floor, which is miles ahead of the team's 38.9 percent effort, West also accounts for 48 of his squad's 84 blocked shots, yet he still has just six assists in close to 400 minutes of action. D.J. Fenner and Marqueze Coleman pitch in with 11.3 and 10.8 ppg, respectively.

It is hard to believe that a team like Nevada can fall flat on its face as it did against Colorado State, and then get back up and be competitive in short order. Luckily the Aggies have their issues too, but not enough to open the door for a potential Wolf Pack victory.