Utah State guard Josh Uduje (14) shoots a three-pointer over San Jose State guard Latrell Davis (6) during the second half of an NCAA basketball game Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle frequently went to bat for his team’s 3-point shooting early in the season, even while the Aggies were establishing themselves as one of the least efficient shooting teams in the country. Sprinkle insisted they could hit 15 threes in a game, but prior to Wednesday’s road contest at San Jose State ranked 271st in the country in 3-point percentage and an average of six made threes per game, topping out at 11 in a single game.
Two hours spent in the Provident Credit Union Event Center later, Utah State had not only reached that 15 triples mark, but surpassed it with a season-high of 16.
“I’ve been telling people, like I’ve seen this team shooting the basketball like this in practice. I’m shocked that we haven’t shot it better in games,” Sprinkle said. “Hopefully, our confidence will build on this game. Because when we are making threes, like any team, we’re pretty dang good.”
This “pretty dang good” version of the Aggies completely unsurprising shot it’s way to a 90-70 victory.
Oh, yeah. The win also clinched a share of the Mountain West regular season title for Utah State and set up a shot at the Aggies’ first outright conference title since joining in 2013.
Sprinkle’s apparent prophetic inclinations extended to right before Wednesday’s contest. He stated after the game (prophetic points lost for only noting it afterward) that he “knew we were going to play terrific.”
“I knew our guys were so locked in,” Sprinkle said. “They had a team meeting and it was a players-only deal. I knew the ownership of this group. I knew we were going to play at a high level tonight.”
The start of the game didn’t completely support the notion of the Aggies playing “terrific.” The generous way of phrasing it would have been that USU was playing half-terrific. The offense was there (it was pretty much always there on a night where Utah State made 53 percent of its shots), the defense was just lagging behind. San Jose State was matching the Aggies, keeping the game within a possession or two for much of the first half.
That actually gave the contest an eerily similar flavor to the first meeting between the Aggies and Spartans. In that Jan. 30 matchup, the game also stayed within a margin where both teams were definitely in the game (SJSU even led midway through the first half in Logan).
But if you remember that previous game very well at all, you’d recall the late first-half 10-2 run USU went on that gave it a solid halftime lead. So, too, was it on Wednesday in San Jose. With 3:57 left in the first half, the score stood 37-33 for the Aggies. Roughly four minutes later as both teams trotted into the locker rooms, the Aggies led 53-37.
The theme of that 16-4 push by USU was the same as the rest of the game, 3-pointers, since 12 of the points during that span came off triples, one apiece from Josh Uduje, Javon Jackson, Darius Brown and Mason Falslev.
The play of Jackson ended up being a nasty shock for San Jose State. Normally a fringe rotation player that sees inconsistent minutes, he played 26 minutes and fully justified the confidence shown in his increased playing time. Jackson went 5 of 6 on 3-pointers to set new career-highs in threes made and in points (15).
“(Jackson) made as many threes tonight by himself that we usually do in the entire game,” Sprinkle noted. “I thought he was unbelievable tonight. I think it was a tie game when he came in and he popped two threes to kind of give us a little breathing room when we needed that separation.”
Jackson drilling five 3-pointers somehow wouldn’t even be enough to lead his team on the night, though. Brown, a man playing near his fullest potential of late, went 7 of 9 from three himself. All 21 of his points coming on 3-pointers. And true to his point guard nature, he also added nine assists to his statsheet as well (with just one turnover).
Across his last seven games, Brown has made 22 of 35 threes, or 62.9 percent on exactly five attempts per game in that span.
“I think people are starting to realize every point guard in his league is tremendous. But I think (Brown) flies under the radar for whatever reason,” Sprinkle said. “He doesn’t get the recognition nationally, even in the conference.”
Although Jackson and Brown did a lot of the heavy lifting for Utah State’s 16 threes by hitting 12 by themselves, the offense was far from monopolized by them (a 90-point effort can pretty much never be from just two performances). Falslev hit the 20-point mark for the second time in a month with exactly 20 and Great Osobor added 16. Only two Aggies that saw the floor didn’t hit a field goal and one of them, Kalifa Sakho, still hit a pair of free throws to find his way on the scoresheet.
With that offensive output, Utah State’s 16-point halftime lead never truly got threatened. The closest the game got the entire second half was 13 points. That moment came on the tail end of SJSU’s best run of the second half, a 6-0 run that spanned nearly three minutes (also USU’s longest scoring drought of the night) but the Aggies ended that run with, you guessed it, a 3-pointer.
Clinching a share of the Mountain West title is something Sprinkle made sure to emphasize the uniqueness of with his players following the game, but with an important caveat attached to it for now.
“When they talk about the 2023-24 Utah State Aggies men’s basketball team, they always have to say champion,” Sprinkle said. “Now, are they going to say outright champions or just champions? That’s what we have to focus on on Saturday.”
The task at hand on Saturday that could give the Aggies the “outright champion” label will be defeating New Mexico, a team right in the thick of desperation as it fights to retain its at-large bid status for the NCAA Tournament.
