Utah State nearly fell victim to a rare 3-point shooting performance, but survived on the skill of its own offense and some timely defense down the stretch for an 85-78 win over San Jose State on the road.
The Spartans made a season-high 14 threes, lighting up the nets for most of the game and putting loads of pressure on the 25th-ranked Utah State Aggies. Or, to use the words of point guard Deyton Albury, “they shot the piss out of the ball.”
However, the Aggies didn’t let that pressure, or the absurd shooting, get to them. They pulled off a very solid offensive game themselves, scoring their highest point total away from the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and shooting 51.5 percent from the field.
“I thought we could have got 100 tonight,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “But 85 is really good on the road.”
The offensive output was so prolific from the Aggies, that despite the net-torching 3-point shooting from the Spartans, Utah State didn’t trail after the 14:52 mark of the first half.
Utah State’s production on the offensive end came from many hands, with five players reaching double-figure scoring. Those players often taking turns leading the offense to stay ahead of the Spartans. Deyton Albury scored six of the Aggies’ first eight points before Tucker Anderson took over with 3-point shooting, hitting a trio of downtown shots in a short span to answer SJSU’s early efforts.
That’s 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬-𝘵𝘰-𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 triples for King Tuck@TuckoA12 pic.twitter.com/to57fjQ1jq
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 8, 2025
Dexter Akanno got in on the fun with a solo 5-0 run, with Mason Falslev one-upping his teammate with a 7-0 run by himself later in the half. In the second frame, Ian Martinez scored seven straight points for USU (albeit not a 7-0 run for the Aggies) and also hit the game-icing free throws in the closing seconds.
Falslev ended up leading the Aggies in scoring, putting up 17 points while tying for the team lead in both rebounds (seven) and assists (four). Anderson had his third game with at least 14 points in the last two weeks by tallying 15 against the Spartans. Martinez contributed 14 points, Albury 13 with Karson Templin adding 10 points, seven boards and a pair of blocks.
While the Aggie offense kept it ahead, the lead kept going from around nine points down to one possession, largely based on whether San Jose State started to make those 3-pointers in bulk. Utah State had carved out a nine point lead early in the second half, only for SJSU to make four 3-pointers in the span of five minutes. When the Aggies crawled back to up seven, back-to-back triples cut the lead down to just one point.
“Coach was just like, ‘we have to guard,'” Albury said. “Offensively, we were fine, but it was just the matter of us getting stops and playing defense.”
But the true gut-check moment came after a layup from San Jose State. That tied the game 69-69 with just over six minutes to play. The Aggies had held the lead for nearly 18 straight minutes of game time, and led by as much as 11, but suddenly the game hung on a precarious edge.
And that’s when USU’s defense finally stepped up and put the clamps on SJSU.
Over those final six minutes of the contest, the Spartans shot just 1-for-15 from the field, including 0-of-8 on threes. The hot shooting evaporated into the air, allowing Utah State to pull away, starting with a 7-0 run. Falslev and Albury hit layups and Falslev added a 3-pointer to push the Aggies ahead.
3⃣-for-3⃣ from deep for @mason_falslev 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dQ8hJpJjtw
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 8, 2025
Calhoun opted to mix things up on defense, going to a man defense at times to try and slow down the Spartans. It was a move he did against Fresno State as well, with the switch up having some success both nights as teams begin to catch on to Utah State’s matchup zone defense.
“We’re certainly gonna mix up our defenses, little tweaks and things throughout the second half,” Calhoun said. “We don’t just play the matchup [zone]. We do a lot of different things that I think people think were in matchup. But we had to mix it up. We couldn’t get a stop.”
The final minutes still managed to be a nail-biting affair as Utah State’s lead closed to just three points one final time with 30 seconds left in the game. Falslev had missed the front end of a one-and-one trip to the free throw line after a take foul and on the other end, SJSU’s Latrell Davis made a pair of free throws to make it 81-78. And just as potentially worrying was Martinez — a 92 percent shooter at the charity stripe this season — missing one of his two free throws and giving the Spartans a chance to close the gap even further.
That wouldn’t end up happening, though, as Donavan Yap, Jr. — who led the Spartans’ efforts in 3-point shooting by making six himself as part of 22 points — missed from deep. Martinez secured the rebound, was fouled, and didn’t miss on his trip back to the free throw line to effectively seal the game with 15 seconds left.
Just a few nights after Calhoun didn’t have a whole lot of positives to say after the Aggies narrowly avoided embarrassment at home against Fresno State, the first-year head coach wasn’t inclined to criticize his team much. Despite being stuck in a close game with a SJSU team that remains winless in Mountain West play, Calhoun praised his team and his opponent.
“I coached really angry last game because our effort wasn’t there. I didn’t do that tonight,” Calhoun said. “Our effort was there. (San Jose State) just played a really good game.”
Utah State now advances to 15-1 on the season, which is the fourth best start in program history, only behind the 2008-09 (24-1), 2003-04 (20-1), and 2023-24 (16-1) Aggie squads. This continued run of form, and likely USU’s spot in the AP Top 25 Poll, will be on the line Saturday when the Aggies host Boise State. The Broncos will be coming off a dominant performance in an 81-59 win over UNLV.
