Utah State fended off one of the best halves of offense a team as played against it this year and still managed to come away with an 18-point win over San Jose State, 96-78, in a Saturday matinee in the Mountain West.
Through the first 20 minutes of Utah State’s first game of the 2026 calendar year, it seemed as though the Aggies had misplaced their Mountain West-best defense back in 2025. San Jose State had hit nine 3-pointers to aid in taking a 51-48 halftime lead over the Aggies.
The Spartans were playing without their top forward, Yaphet Moundi, who has averaged 12.5 points and 7.6 rebounds so far this season. But despite losing that scoring punch, SJSU seemed to play even better on offense, likely because of their ability to spread the floor. Adrian Myers, who stepped into the starting five in Moundi’s place, hit four triples on the afternoon.
“(Moundi is) not a three-point shooter. So when you got guys coming off the ball screen, brushing into, you know, to threes, those things are hard to guard,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “And we probably didn’t spend enough time guarding brushes. We’ve got to, you know, against pick-and-pop bigs, we’ve got to full rotate sometimes. And, I mean, nothing against (Moundi). He’s a great player. He’s getting 12 and 8. But I honestly thought their offense was better with those guys tonight in the game.”
Colby Garland, the leader in the Mountain West in total scoring this season, didn’t even really have to get involved much in the scoring himself. The man who is averaging 20.1 points per game this season had only four shot attempts at halftime with eight points (half of those at the free-throw line). In his place, guys like Myers (12 points at halftime), Melvin Bell (eight points) and Jeremiah Washington (also eight points) were carrying an increased load on offense.
The Aggies were 28th in the nation in KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric, but had its worst half on defense of the season. Calhoun praised the Spartans’ offensive performance and the style of play that caused his team problems, but also made note of Utah State’s lack of consistency since the Christmas break.
“We haven’t played great basketball since the break,” Calhoun said. “Obviously at Fresno, sloppy. Tonight, I’m not sure what defense that was in the first half.”
Even at the start of the second half, Utah State still struggled. San Jose State extended its lead from three up to seven, holding a 59-52 advantage when the first media timeout of the second half rolled around.
But that was when the sleeping giant that is Utah State’s defense finally woke up. San Jose State made 19 of its first 33 field goals, but in the final 16 minutes of the game, would suffer a complete reversal, making only 6 of their final 23 shots. After making nine 3-pointers in the first half, SJSU only attempted five in the second half and made just one of them.
With every stop, every time San Jose State couldn’t keep up that incredible first-half shooting, Utah State drew closer because the Aggies weren’t slowing down. USU’s offense, that had itself scored 48 first-half points to keep pace with the red-hot Spartans, was only ramping up. The Aggies had a 9-0 run and three seperate 6-0 runs throughout the second half.
Each burst increased the volume from the nearly 9,000-strong crowd. That injection of energy is something Calhoun noted as a key during the most important some of the most crucial stretches in the middle of the second half.
“The Spectrum is incredible,” Calhoun said. “And I think Cam Walker and [Ike Ukaegbu] and their team are starting to realize that, how special this basketball program is to this community, to our student body. It was loud.”
Leading the charge on the court were guys like MJ Collins, with his team-leading 23 points, and Mason Falslev with his 17 points. But there was also true freshman Elijah Perryman. He set new career-high marks in both points (13) and assists (10) and became the first freshman to record a double-double at USU since Trevin Dorius in 2019 (10 points, 11 rebounds against St. Katherine).
Perryman is the only Aggie freshman to record a double-double with points and assists since at least 2004 according to the College Basketball Reference game log database. His work in the pick-and-roll with Karson Templin and Garry Clark, who were the receipiants of six of Perryman’s assists, took apart the SJSU defense.
Perryman gets downhill to even things up‼️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/x5KlC3j66x
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 3, 2026
Not only did Perryman rack up all those stats, he did so largely during the most crucial stretch of the game. In a roughly five-minute span, starting at the 14-minute mark of the second half, there were 10 total ties or lead changes between the Aggies and Spartans. Perryman scored seven of his points within that crucial stretch, plus an assist. And it was his 3-pointer that gave USU the lead, 71-68 that would ultimately not be yielded.
ELIJAH FROM THE CORNER#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/sVcTec26JP
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 3, 2026
“(Perryman’s) vision is incredible. He’s just going to get better and better as he matures, he plays better defense, takes care of the ball,” Calhoun said. Like tonight, 10 assists, one turnover. We probably don’t win the game without him.”
Utah State finished the game on an absolute roll, turning what was a small deficit in the first half and a back-and-forth game for much of the second half, into a final score that gave the appearance of a blowout. The win advances the Aggies to 12-1 on the season and 3-0 in Mountain West play. Utah State’s next game will be on Tuesday when it will face Air Force in Colorado Springs.
