LOGAN – Utah State nearly learned the hard way that every Mountain West game is tough. Despite being a nearly 20-point favorite against visiting Wyoming, the Aggies had to escape with a 70-67 win Wednesday evening, holding off a hot-shooting Cowboys’ squad.
The waning seconds nearly ended in disaster. Leading 70-64, Drake Allen went to the free throw line for a potentially game-icing pair of free throws with 14 seconds on the clock. But he missed them both and Wyoming guard Kobe Newton took the outlet pass up the court. Newton had been hearing “airball” chants from the Spectrum crowd all night after his first attempt of the game was…well, an air ball. Except with under 10 seconds he hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give Utah State plenty to sweat about.
Utah State had at that point given up 12 3-pointers to a team that hadn’t made more than nine in a game all year and ranked 317th in the country in 3-point percentage. Any mistake on the ensuring inbound could have ended in pure disaster.
The pass found Ian Martinez’s hands, a perfect situation as he’d made all eight of his free throw attempts in the game. Even better, his speed got him in front and away from his defender, leading to more of the remaining 7.1 seconds draining off the clock. But in one final temptation of fate, Martinez lost the handle on his dribble in front of the Aggie bench. Jordan Nesbit grabbed the loose ball and heaved it from midcourt toward Wyoming’s hoop, nearly watching it go in but it bounced off the front of the rim.
It would have been almost too fitting had it actually gone through. But Martinez put it best from the Aggie perspective.
“Thankfully, that guy didn’t make it.”
This is the third straight game Utah State has “won ugly” as the saying goes. Both Martinez and Calhoun used that terminology after the game and Calhoun said the grind-it-out style is not the way he wants his team to play. He explicitly said “we’re not a grind-out team” — though on consideration of the last few games he added “but maybe we are.” Either way, it’s not a style he’s fond of.
“I don’t want to play like that. I don’t think our fans want to watch that,” Calhoun said. “They want to see more than 70 points.”
A growing trend for the Aggies has been poor shooting in the first half. Utah State shot a combined 17 of 61 against St. Bonaventure and North Texas and were 12 of 32 in the first half Wednesday. An oddly specific trend but one the Aggies have to answer for.
That first-half percentage could have been a few points worse had the Aggies not gone on a fairly crucial late run. Wyoming led 29-24 with less than two minutes to go in the half only for Utah State to go on an 8-0 run. Dexter Akanno kicked it off by converting on a four-point play. A Martinez 3-pointer and Karson Templin free throw capped the short run to give USU the 32-29 lead at the break.
The hoop. The harm. The wave 👋
⚡️ @dexterakanno #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/1xLMCyKh08
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) December 5, 2024
Just as the first-half shooting woes have been a thing for three games, great second-half shooting has followed each time — 50 percent or better in both the St. Bonaventure and North Texas games — and it continued against Wyoming. The Aggies made 45.8 percent of their attempts, led largely by their top two scorers, Martinez and Mason Falslev.
Martinez had just six points in the first half, being hounded by Nesbit (an athletic 6-foot-6 wing). But in the second he went off for 17 points, making 4 of 7 shots from the field and attempting all eight of his free throws in the latter half (and as already noted, making all eight of them).
Ian just makes it look easy 😏@IanJumaine #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/VFj69x1649
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) December 5, 2024
“I’ve got to pick and choose better, when to drive, went to get my shots off. Missed a lot of shots first half and in the paint, just wasn’t feeling it,” Martinez said of his performance, adding that he needs to be “more patient and using (the opponent’s) aggressiveness to my advantage, getting some back cuts.”
Falslev’s contributions nearly amounted to a fourth 20-point game in five outings, but he came up one shy of that distinction with *just* 19 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and had three steals.
But even as Falslev and Martinez were heating up in the second half, creating those larger leads, Wyoming refused to go away. Newton kept making 3-pointers, as did Nesbitt and Dontaie Allen. Nesbitt and Allen had combined to make six three pointers in Wyoming’s first seven games of the year and yet they made six themselves in this single game along (some credit to Allen who’s been a solid shooter in a long career but has had a very cold start to this season).
Even with those Wyoming players having great nights, it was arguably Obi Agbim who was the greatest thorn in Utah State’s side. He scored 17 points and had 10 assists. His mid-range jumper was deadly as he was nearly perfect inside the arc (7 of 8). Agbim’s only mid-range miss came in the last minute of the game, courtesy of a block from Martinez. That would have tied the game 66-all, but the Aggies took the ball down the other way and it was Falslev who made the crucial bucket to create the separation needed for control in the final seconds of the contest.
THAT’S WHY THEY CALL HIM THE MAYOR‼️@mason_falslev #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/fJlIwnaHxf
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) December 5, 2024
It didn’t seem to come as a coincidence to Calhoun that in this conference game, it was the players who had played a a higher level of basketball came through and made the plays. Martinez and Falslev were leaders on the Mountain West-winning Aggies last year. Templin too returns from that team and Akanno came from former Pac-12 Oregon State. Those four combined for 62 of the Aggies points along with more than half the rebounds (18 of the 35). Calhoun said the rest of the players will need to learn from this one.
“I don’t think our new guys quite understand the physicality (of the Mountain West), Calhoun said. “They have not played against that type of physicality night in and night out. Tucker Anderson, Aubin (Gateretse), and certainly Deyton Albury. They’re coming from the Atlantic Sun. This is a monster league with guys that have big-time bodies. They’re going to bump you. So hopefully our new guys can continue to produce and get better because the returning guys are carrying us.”
Utah State now remains as one of nine undefeated teams in Division I at 8-0, with Calhoun now matching LaDell Anderson for longest undefeated start to a coaching tenure with the Aggies. Calhoun also reached 250 career wins as a head coach. The Aggies next opponent, Utah Tech, will travel to face them in the Spectrum on Saturday.
