Ugly wins are still wins and that’s what Utah State will take home from California as it downed Fresno State 72-63 Tuesday evening. In the resumption of Mountain West play, the Aggies were 15 points favorites against Fresno State, though the most they led by all night was 13 and allowed the Bulldogs within six points in the final minute.
USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun maintained a positive outlook, saying “we’re not going to sit around and moan and groan about getting a win.” Though he certainly didn’t let them completely off the hook for the product that was put on the court. The Aggies committed a season-worst 20 turnovers and tied their season high with 23 personal fouls, sending Fresno State to the free-throw line 22 times. On the other side, the Bulldogs gave the ball away 18 times and shot 34.5% from the field.
“You guys should be happy you didn’t have to watch that live [in person],” Calhoun said to the media in the post-game zoom press conference. “I’m sure Coach [Vance Walberg] felt the same way.”
Games against Fresno State have been an adventure for Utah State. Even with some of the best Aggie teams going against some of the worst Bulldogs squads, the games manage to stay close. Last year the Aggies trailed by nearly 20 points at home to a Bulldogs team that finished with just six wins. And two years ago the eventual Mountain West champion Aggies needed a last-second shot to force overtime in Fresno. Utah State wound up with wins in both cases, and on Tuesday, but it showcased yet again the principle of how difficult wins are to come by in good conferences.
“Winning is hard to do at any venue, whether you’re playing Fresno or San Diego State,” Calhoun said.
The best aspect of Utah State’s overall performance is that it had control of the game for nearly its entire runtime. Fresno State held a handful of two-point leads in the opening minutes as buckets were exchanged, but when Utah State seized control on a 12-2 lead, the Bulldogs never threw a significant punch to defy the Aggies’ control.
What Utah State’s turnovers and fouls really did to this game was keep it theoretically within striking distance for Fresno State. The Aggies never led by less than five in the final 33 minutes of the game but never led by more than 13. The lead mostly wobbled between eight and 12 points, especially in the second half.
Fresno State may have posted its worst field goal percentage of the season, but were able to find a source of offense through free throws. The Bulldogs made 18 of their 22 attempts at the charity strip, which kept them from going scoreless for more than a couple minutes at a time, even when droughts between field goals lasted as long as four or five minutes.
Because of that, even though Utah State has averaged nearly one run of at least 10-0 per game, the longest run it pulled off in Fresno were a pair of the 7-0 runs, one near the start of each half.
Crucial buckets still emerged despite all of the struggles. When Fresno State went on its biggest run of the night — a 6-0 burst that cut USU’s lead from 13 points to seven with 2:39 left in the game — MJ Collins hit a runner in the paint to halt the Bulldogs’ momentum and give the Aggies’ more breathing room. He then matched another Fresno State bucket to retain the nine-point lead a little longer. Collins finished the game with a team-high 18 points. Along with Collins reaching double figures, Mason Falslev 16 points plus eight rebounds and four steals. Kolby King had 13 points, his highest total since putting up 16 against Tulane on Nov. 21.
Despite Collins’ pair of clutch buckets, Utah State still allowed Fresno State to cut into its lead. After leading by 13 points with 4:14 to play, the Aggies led by just six, 69-63, with 55 seconds on the clock. At that point, though, USU’s defense stepped up and completely stonewalled the Bulldogs. Jake Heidbreder, who led the home side with 21 points, took all of his team’s shots in the final minute, but went 0-for-3. That allowed the Aggies to cleanly finish off the night with the win, no extra sweat required.
And it was that defense that Calhoun ended up having a lot of praise for.
“Our defense is one of the best in the country. I’ve been saying it over and over,” Calhoun said. “We have good athletes and we practice defense probably 65% of the time. We wanted to get better in that department and it won us the game tonight. And it overcame a really, really bad offensive performance.”
Utah State will be back in action with a return to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum after the turn of the calendar year. The Aggies will host San Jose State which lost 81-68 to San Diego State on Tuesday.
