Falling from the ranks of the undefeated didn’t seem to phase Utah State all that much. The loss to UC San Diego on Wednesday sent the Aggies tumbling down rankings like the NET and KenPom (and probably axed hopes of being ranked in the AP Poll for a couple more weeks), but didn’t apparently have much of an impact on USU’s approach. The very same approach that led to the historic 10-0 start.
“Our guys, for two days, did not let the outcome of the UC San Diego game affect our prep,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “In fact, I thought it motivated us. There was also a lot of chatter back at Logan about we haven’t played anybody our schedule. A lot of doubt. I felt it and our team did not, which was great.”
Well, that process certainly isn’t broken as it handed the Aggies their 11th, and perhaps most impressive, victory of the season: a 75-68 result at Saint Mary’s.
The Gaels entered the game ranked 51st in the NET ranking, one spot behind another of USU’s opponents, Iowa, but this being the first true road game created a new challenge. Utah State had won on a neutral site against the likes of Iowa, North Texas and St. Bonaventure, though a true hostile environment wasn’t a test the Aggies had faced. Furthermore, Saint Mary’s was 21-4 at home since the start of last season.
Based on the way the Aggies performed, it seems they forgot this kind of test is supposed to be a significant challenge. They played more physical against one of the more physical teams in the NCAA and out-rebounded them on their own home court.
“To out rebound this team, we deserve to win the game,” Calhoun said. “When you come into Saint Mary’s, one of the best rebounding teams in America and you get battle-tested and you out-rebound them, our guys deserved to win the game.”
“They’re one of the most physical teams in the country,” Templin said. “So we knew we had to come out and hit them back. And I think we’re one of the most physical teams in the country too. So two good physical teams and we got them tonight.”
In the first eight minutes, Utah State put its foot on the gas. It brushed aside a couple small early leads from Saint Mary’s to take a 17-7 lead. The usual suspects for Aggie points were absent, however. It was Aubin Gateretse, Deyton Albury and Karson Templin who accounted for all of those points. Templin, especially, caught the Gaels off guard. His scouting report would tell you Templin will occasionally take a 3-pointer if he’s wide open. But Saint Mary’s found out the hard way that Calhoun has given Templin the full green light to play stretch five. The sophomore took full advantage and made a trio of triples within a two-minute span.
Perhaps it’s time to change the scouting report on Templin, who has now made a 3-pointer in four straight games and is shooting 58.3 percent from downtown in that same stretch.
“I know I can shoot it, Coach knows I can shoot it,” Templin said. “We knew their bigs were gonna be in a drop coverage. And if they’re gonna drop and play off of me, I’m gonna shoot it and open up the floor for my teammates.”
The 10-point lead Templin catapulted the Aggies to didn’t last as Saint Mary’s put together their own run and 3-point shooting spree. Mikey Lewis and Luke Barrett hit a pair of triples with a Mitchell Saxen layup to cut the Aggies lead to just two points a mere two minutes after they’d led by 10. It exemplified the fact that, no matter how dominant the Aggies would end up playing, the Gaels didn’t roll over completely dead.
There was even more dominant play to come for the Aggies, which would keep the Gaels always fighting to be within said striking distance, but never fully able to execute a strike.
A 10-0 run late in the first half was Utah State’s next salvo, with a pair of 3-pointers from Dexter Akanno and Tucker Anderson mixed with two dunks from Gateretse who had 10 first-half points. Saint Mary’s got the last bucket of the half but the Aggies took a 12-point lead into the break. To put it shortly, USU would maintain a multi-possession lead the rest of the game.
The fact Utah State held off Saint Mary’s so well in the second half is pretty astonishing after taking a look at the Gaels’ second-half shooting numbers. They made seven 3-pointers in that single half alone, but never drew closer than six points to Utah State. Mind you, the Aggies only made six 3-pointers all game, let alone in a half. The Gaels had one of their best shooting halves of the year and Utah State mostly brushed it off.
The reason for that was because the Aggies also had one of their own best shooting halves of the year. In fact, Utah State made 14 of its 16 field goal attempts over the first 14 minutes of the second half. It made the otherwise very respectable shooting from Saint Mary’s look like a cold spell, and that alone nearly obliterated any hope for a Gaels rally.
Mason Falslev accounted for a large chunk of the second-half scoring. He only had four points heading into halftime, but finished the game with 18. He personally went 6-for-7 from the field in the second half. Martinez had seven of his 11 points in the latter half with Jordy Barnes scoring all six of his points there too. Joining Falslev and Martinez in double-figure scoring was Gateretse who finished the game with 10 and Templin who had 13 points
There did end up being a push by Saint Mary’s to make it kind of a down-to-the-wire game, spurred on by its 3-point shooting and the fact Utah State got smacked by the law of averages in the final minutes of the game. The Aggies missed six of their final seven shots which, combined with some turnovers, allowed the Gaels to get to within six points with 29 seconds remaining. But a couple of stops and some free throws secured victory in the end for the Aggies.
More tough road games are in Utah State’s immediate future — most notably road games at San Diego State (Dec. 28) and Nevada (Dec. 31). But perhaps there will be less chatter about the Aggies’ strength of schedule and whether they’ve beaten tough opponents.
