For just the second time this year, and the first in conference play, Utah State has lost. On the road and missing two players due to illness, the Aggies were outscored 12-2 in the final five minutes, including a 7-0 game-ending run by UNLV as the Rebels claimed victory in the Thomas & Mack Center by a 65-62 score.
Despite many struggles, among them foul trouble, rebounding, poor free throw shooting and a general lack of consistent offense, Utah State held a seven-point lead, 60-53, with five minutes left in the game. That came after an 11-1 run from the Aggies that displayed some of the grittiest play they’d showcased all night.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t last, nor would it be enough to power Utah State to another road victory.
“Give our guys a ton of credit for coming back. We were up seven, had them on the ropes,” Calhoun said. “Had numerous opportunities to make layups to win it. Unfortunately for us, the ball didn’t go in. Wel’ll take a day off and get back to the drawing board.”
From making four straight field goal attempts as part of that 11-1 run, USU went on to miss nine of their next 10 attempts from the field. All of the final six shot attempts (which were all misses) would have tied the game or handed the lead back to the Aggies.
The most brutal set of misses came after an official review gave USU the ball back with just under a minute to play. The Aggies trailed by just one point, 63-62. What followed was a heroic, but ultimately futile attempt to just get the basketball to please go through the net. Drake Allen missed a layup, but Karson Templin grabbed the rebound only to miss, grab his own rebound and then miss again with the final rebound falling to UNLV.
What could have been a lead for the Aggies with 44 seconds left, became UNLV ball. Dedan Thomas, who missed a potential game-winner against USU in Las Vegas last year, made a contested mid-range jumper to put the Rebels up three. Mason Falslev let fly from three with six seconds left to try and tie the game, but it was off the mark as USU’s luck at the end of games finally ran out.
A lack of availability in the frontcourt had a not-insignificant impact on this game. Forwards Isaac Johnson and Isaac Davis both didn’t travel to the game because of illness (Johnson also missed the game against Boise State). And while Davis hasn’t seen the court lately, Calhoun said he would have played tonight. Templin also woke up sick, didn’t participate in shootaround and was receiving treatment all day before the game. Missing two frontcourt players became a pretty big deal when both Templin and Aubin Gateretse picked up two fouls in the first half. That left Tucker Anderson to play center, a position he’d not played all year.
“It’s been disastrous for 72 hours, something I’ve never seen before, but I’ve got three guys not here,” Calhoun said. “But the reality of it is nobody cares in a month and a half. You’ve got to fight through it. You’ve got to try to find a way to win.”
The foul trouble mostly calmed, aside from Gateretse picking up a fourth foul with 12 minutes to play. But that act sent Templin into the game and he played likely the longest uninterrupted on-court stint of the season, which could have led to fatigue for the sophomore forward. While he did grab six of his team-high 10 rebounds in that span, he didn’t score at all in those final 12 minutes, missing both of his shot attempts and committing two turnovers.
Where offense did come from for most of the game was from Tucker Anderson and Ian Martinez. Anderson scored a season-high 19 points with Martinez adding 15. They were responsible for more than half of USU’s offense, with no other player reaching double figures. The two also accounted for six of the 10 threes the Aggies made.
Wednesday’s game was the second consecutive game in which Utah State was out-rebounded by their opponent. This one was a little more hurtful as UNLV ranked 337th in rebounds per game entering the game. The Rebels ended up grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, winning the overall battle on the glass 37-34.
“Rebounding was really, really bad,” Calhoun said. “It’s been our Achilles heel the last four or five games. They dominated us on the glass.”
Adding to the list of woes was free throw shooting. Following a two-game span against San Jose State and Boise State where they shot 18 of 38 from the free throw line, the Aggies showed no improvement, going 8 of 15 on Wednesday.
Even as the list of issues is stacking higher and higher the last few games, Calhoun isn’t getting overly critical of his guys.
“There’s a lot of highs. There’s a lot of lows,” Calhoun said. “There’s a lot of adjustments with your offense, your defense. You’re going to go through a lot of things throughout the basketball season, right? Whether it’s struggling with shooting, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s sickness, whether it’s your defense. There’s a million things. So we’ve got to clean up.”
Throughout it all, perhaps it’s best to remember one fact Calhoun brought up.
“We played really bad and should have won,” Calhoun said.
Utah State joins New Mexico in surprise losses this week and the two programs will remain tied for now atop the Mountain West with conference records of 6-1. The Lobos will have a chance to take sole possession with a game later this week, while the Aggies will take some much-needed time off. Their next game won’t be until next week when they host Nevada for a rematch of the New Year’s Eve game USU won by five points in Lawlor Events Center.