Prior to Utah State taking the court against Davidson in the title game of the Charleston Classic on Sunday, the team heard a message from Michael Collins, a minister and father of Aggies guard MJ Collins. He spoke to the team about the bull iconography of the Aggies and how when bulls see red, they attack. With red being one of the primary entries in Davidson’s color palette, the metaphor was fit for the occasion.
“I thought it was a really, really cool parent video, and it really fired the guys up,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said.
The Aggies would fully take to heart the message from the senior Collins, blasting Davidson 94-60 to take home a trophy and extend their undefeated start to the season (now 6-0). But it would be the junior Collins that seemed to take that message most to hear. MJ went on an absolute heater, racking up a career-best 40 points. It made him the first USU basketball player to reach that lofty mark since Jaycee Carroll scored 44 in February 2007.
Naturally, the senior guard was also named the Charleston Classic Lowcountry Bracket MVP after the performance, which set a tournament scoring record. A great moment for Collins as it was coincidentally his third appearance in the tournament which is held just under three hours away from where he grew up. With the family home so close, Collins’ mother, Jimia, was able to attend in person.
Collins got his scoring started early, less than three minutes into the game. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a solo 6-0 run that put Utah State up 11-3. Those two made up what would be eight made triples for Collins in the game.
“They just left me wide open. And when a good scorer sees one goes down the basket kind opens up,” Collins said. “We run an out of bounds play and I’m wide open again, so it’s like, ‘Well, if y’all just going to keep leaving me open and I’m going to keep shooting.’ The ball kept going in the basket and my teammates kept finding me. Coach kept running the same plays, kept keeping me in the actions.”
Those two 3-pointers got Collins going, but for much of the rest of the first half his scoring came from transition and fast breaks, which the Aggies were regularly creating by forcing Davidson into turnovers. The Wildcats had 19 giveaways in the game with 15 of those caused by Utah State steals. Drake Allen led USU with five steals with Mason Falslev tallying four himself. More than once Collins sprinted up the court after those theiveries by his teammates, fielded the outlet pass and laid (or dunked) the ball into the basket.
The kid from Clover#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/OwnISuV76H
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 24, 2025
The 𝙎𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙃 Aggie steal of the night#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/uKcmbeyYcD
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 24, 2025
Those turnovers were another representation of how the Aggies saw red, then attacked. And that constant pressure smothered Davidson’s otherwise strong offense. The Wildcats entered the evening ranking 38th in the nation in field goal percentage (50.2) and 19th in 3-point percentage (41.2) but ended up shooting 39.6% overall and 26.9% from three. Calhoun has repeatedly emphasized how this year’s team will be improved on defense and this game provided more evidence for his assertions.
“Our defense is going to be better. We have better athletes. They move laterally better than last year. Really excited about that,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun later spoke about how much he’s challenged the team after what he felt was a lackluster showing against Weber State, where the Aggies scraped by with a 10-point win over a team currently ranked 226th in KenPom.
“I’ve crushed them for two, three weeks, literally just really, really attention to detail,” Calhoun said. “Enough scouting errors. If you’re guarding a shooter, guys can’t get shots off. Win your blockouts. Win your matchup guarding the ball. Just challenging guys, trying to get the best out of them.”
There were only two occasions where Davidson pushed Utah State and made the game feel more competitive. The Aggies had a 15-5 lead trimmed to just one point, 18-17 after they didn’t make a field goal for nearly four minutes. However, Utah State never relinquished the lead despite that brief cold spell (and held the lead for all but 12 seconds of the game) and countered the Wildcats push by going on an 11-0 run. Then, toward the end of the half, Davidson pulled to within six points, 36-30, only for the Aggies to go on a 12-0 run to end the half and take an 18-point advantage into halftime.
As Utah State came out of halftime, Collins saw a chance to serve a unique role to help his team solidify their advantage in the second half. The senior already had 22 points and was sure to get some extra attention from the defense.
“I kind of told my teammates at halftime that (Davidson) were going to be staying on me. So if I needed to be a decoy for us to get the win, I was willing to do that,” Collins said.
That kind of held true for the earliest portion of the second half. Collins wouldn’t score in the first nine minutes of the latter period. And, as Collins wanted, his teammates were able to find plenty of open scoring looks and the lead ballooned from 18 all the way up to 29 with just under 13 minutes to play.
And that’s when the team started feeding Collins again.
With just over 11 minutes remaining in the game, Collins hit what was his fifth triple of the night, giving him 25 points which became his new career high for about two minutes until he threw down a fastbreak dunk. Davidson started to hit a few jump-shots as it desperately tried to stem the tide, but no one among the Wildcats had the power to stop what Collins had begun. After reaching 27 with that 3-pointer and dunk, he tallied another 13 within a five-minute span, accounting for all Aggie points in that time period.
40. FORTY. 4️⃣0️⃣.@Collins2Mj is THAT DUDE.#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/YYDtkczErB
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 24, 2025
The 34-point spanking Utah State laid on Davidson capped a highly impressive two-game span in the Charleston Classic. Paired with the 21-point win over Tulane, which won the third-place game over Boston College, the Aggies have risen from ranking 48th in KenPom up to 27th in the span of a few days. These performances are the result of a highly motivated Utah State squad.
“We’re kind of tired of people not taking us serious,” Calhoun said. “I think the West Coast really appreciates what Utah State is, but people in the south, people on the east coast have no idea how good this program is. And hopefully we woke up the people down here.”
