Utah State provoked a profound sense of deja vu on Saturday in a 84-74 loss at Grand Canyon. Last year, the Aggies started the season 16-1, were undefeated in Mountain West play and were ranked 22nd in the AP Top 25 Poll before losing on the road to a Jaden Henley-led UNLV team on Jan. 15. Just over a year later, USU had a 15-1 record, were undefeated in Mountain West play and were ranked 23rd in the AP Top 25 Poll before losing to a Jaden Hanley-led GCU.
Grand Canyon led nearly every moment after a brief 2-0 lead for Utah State. The Aggies tied the game once in the first half, 23-23, but could never draw even after that. They came close on numerous occasions, though. The Aggies went into halftime with a field goal percentage of 32.1, but made nine of their first 14 shots in the second half, setting the stage for a few runs that came up just shy of flipping the game.
Utah State had a 6-0 burst that brought it to within two, 57-55, only for Grand Canyon to score four quick unanswered points to back up by six with just under 10 minutes to play.
Then USU had a 5-0 run in direct response to GCU’s mini-run and made it a one-point game. Yet again, though, the Lopes had a response, a 9-3 run that put the home team ahead 70-63.
And from there Utah State simply ran out of steam. The good shooting it had early in the second half evaporated as the Aggies missed 18 of their final 23 shots of the game.
Mason Falslev scored 25 points (and also had 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and fourth of his career), but he too lost his scoring touch late. He missed his last six shots of the afternoon.
As much as Utah State’s offense had a poor night, recording its second-lowest field goal percentage of the year, it was the defense that head coach Jerrod Calhoun ended up most upset about. The 84 points is the most Utah State has allowed all year and the first time they’ve yielded 80 points in regulation against anybody.
“I thought our defense really failed us,” Calhoun said. “(Grand Canyon) did a great job of playing physical on us.”
Utah State were called for a season-high 27 personal fouls, sending Grand Canyon to the free throw line 33 times. The Aggies also went to the free throw line quite a bit, with 23 free throws on 22 fouls against the Lopes. USU and GCU had to deal with a whistle-happy referee crew that also had multiple occasions where goaltends were improperly called for or against both teams.
Calhoun, who has many times this season noted good performances by referees and spoken about the difficulty of their job, cut off a question about the officials from a reporter.
“I have zero comments about that,” Calhoun said. “Not going to comment on that. Not going to say a single word.”
Grand Canyon were able to take full advantage of an edge in size. Bryce Drew put his redshirt freshmen center, the 7-foot-2 Dennis Evans, on the court for a season-high 19 minutes and Evans went out and got six blocks. The Aggies also struggled against the size and rebounding ability of Nana Owusu-Anane and Efe Emirel. Calhoun said that size “wore on us tonight.”
“They spent a lot of money on this roster, so their size is real,” Calhoun said. “I give them a ton of credit. That’s the biggest team we’ve faced all year. Those guys aren’t the best scorers, but they really do a tremendous job of walling up, crowding the floor. The size is a major factor.”
In some ways, the Aggies overcame that size disadvantage. They out-rebounded GCU 43-38, which included grabbing 22 offensive rebounds. Karson Templin had eight rebounds in the game, all of which were on the offensive side. Adlan Elamin grabbed seven rebounds, one shy of his career high, to go with his 12 points. But in many other ways, Grand Canyon’s size created problem USU couldn’t overcome. Templin and Elamin were both in foul trouble, Elamin fouling out in the late stages of the game. The aforementioned six blocks was a massive problem that contributed to Utah State shooting just 25% on layups.
However, as Calhoun noted, the scoring didn’t come from the bigs, who combined for just 11 points. The main offensive thrust came from Makaih Williams and Brian Moore, who each scored 20 points. Henley added 12 points from the wing. Grand Canyon’s top two guards came into the game shooting 31 percent from three, but went a combined 4-for-9 from distance to bolster their scoring numbers. They also combined for 18 free throw attempts, making 12 of them. Utah State has typically done very well staying in front of opposing guards. That was not the case on Saturday.
“It really came down to one thing: guarding the basketball,” Calhoun said. “So we’ll have to look at some things. But I thought they beat us to the middle. They beat us to the paint. They got to their left shoulder, drove downhill, and just literally got to their spots. Basketball is about getting to your spots.”
Utah State will have a pretty quick turnaround for their next game as the grind of conference play allows little time for contemplation and extra practice. The Aggies will host UNLV in a late Tuesday night game, a 9 p.m. tip-off in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. In the meantime, USU will likely lose its hold on first place in the Mountain West and be stripped of its No. 23 ranking. Those mid-season accolades will have to be earned on the court starting next week.
