As the clock ticked under three minutes to play, Utah State’s road game in Laramie against the Wyoming Cowboys could hardly be going better. Sure, the home team had shot above-average from three and made life very difficult for the visiting Aggies in the first 37 minutes. But USU had made 12 of its last 14 field goal attempts and were leading by 11 points, 78-67.
However, much like Wyoming had done all night, every haymaker by the Mountain West’s first-place team was answered in full. And when MJ Collins missed a free throw with 13 seconds, the Cowboys sprinted down the court with a chance for a game-winning shot that came up just short. That allowed Utah State to escape “Laradise” with an 85-83 win in a game which they were favored to win by nearly double digits.
“I haven’t watched the tape so I don’t want to [be] quick to judge, but [we were] just very discombobulated,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said of the final minutes. “As the momentum shifted our attention to detail and our understanding [of] time, score, different things, were not very good.”
While the final three minutes could be a story unto itself, Wyoming rallying in the face of decently large Utah State leads was a game-long theme. From the very start, the Cowboys didn’t let the Aggies rest. The memory of its 32-point loss in Logan seemingly only helping the Cowboys in their pursuit of stealing a victory from the MW-leading Aggies. Every time Utah State began to pull away and flex its muscles over Wyoming, there was always a response. From the small runs to even the large ones.
When Utah State went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-5 lead, Wyoming went on an 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the night, 13-7.
The Aggies responded to that with a 6-0 run. But Wyoming came back with a 7-1 run.
Utah State then outscored Wyoming 18-2 over a four-minute span to go up 32-22 with just under five minutes left in the first half. The Cowboys went on an 11-0 run and briefly took the lead before the Aggies pulled ahead at halftime 39-35.
Nothing the Aggies had in their arsenal could bury the Cowboys. They shot 58% in the first half compared to Wyoming’s 36%. But offensive rebounds by the Cowboys and turnovers by the Aggies came up big Wyoming got 15 points via second-chances on offensive boards and USU turnovers.
Crucial too was Wyoming’s 3-point shooting. The team had shot 28.8% over its last four games, but made 11 of 28 attempts (39.3%). Demarion Dennis, Nasir Meyer and Khaden Bennett combined to make 8 of 15 from distance.
“We knew that two of their guys had stepped up shooting-wise. They’re all capable shooters and, unfortunately, we just struggled to get out to them,” Utah State guard Mason Falslev said. “They set some pretty good screens. We (gave up) a lot of open threes. Just lack of focus and executing our game plan.”
In the second half, those runs just kept coming for both sides. The Aggies went on a quick 5-0 burst to go up nine points (44-35) only for a 9-0 run by Wyoming to drag things back to a tie ballgame, 44-all.
And if the Cowboys rallying for a third time within a half-hour of game time didn’t create enough drama, the next 10 minutes of red-hot shooting by both teams certainly gave the crowd the value of their ticket.
From the start of the second half and up until the roughly eight-minute mark of the same half, Utah State and Wyoming shot a combined 21 of 30 on field goals (the Aggies going 11-for-12 and Cowboys 10-for-18). At one point, the teams made a combined eight consecutive field goal attempts, included in that were four 3-pointers in a row — MJ Collins nailing one, answered by Meyer, that one answered by Kolby King with Meyer answering yet again. Those Meyer 3-pointers brought the Aggies’ lead back down to two points each time, preventing them from pulling away in the middle of the half.
Finally, however, Wyoming did have a cold spell and the Aggies refused to stop. Utah State shot 71.4% from the field in the second half, led largely by Mason Falslev and MJ Collins. Falslev overcame previous struggles when playing in Laramie. He scored just four points in 25 minutes as a freshmen and then only nine points in 35 minutes in last year’s trip to Wyoming. He scored a season-high 27 points, paired with six rebounds and five assists.
𝐀𝐍𝐃. 𝐎𝐍𝐄.#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/95aAHcRNwP
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 8, 2026
“Heavenly Father had my back today,” Falslev said. “I was saying a lot of prayers before the game. I haven’t played very well in this arena.”
Falslev balanced his scoring through the first and second halves of the game (14 in the first, 13 in the second). Collins back-loaded his scoring with 16 of his 20 points in the second half.
WATCH YA HEAD#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/yg2kHMpPBi
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 8, 2026
“I thought (Mason) just really willed this. He had a lot of two feet finishes you know at the rim getting to his right hand. Some big offensive rebounds,” Calhoun said. “MJ, I thought we did a nice job of screening in for him where he started low and came out. You know first play the second half we executed to a tee and we’re kind of off to the races you know. But those two guys are two of the best players in the league.”
All of that offensive dominance, especially from Falslev and Collins, culminated in that 11-point lead that lasted up until there was 2:41 left in the game. But from that moment on, Wyoming began a comeback that nearly rocked the Aggies’ and their four-game winning streak.
It began with Wyoming trading three-point possessions to Utah State just getting twos. Dennis hit a 3-pointer, answered by a Garry Clark layup. Bennett converted an and-one in the paint and Falslev responded with another Aggie lay-in.
But Wyoming was scraping the fat of Utah State’s advantage, and the Aggies accelerated the process by having empty possessions. Collins had a layup blocked, Falslev missed a shot at the rim as well and Collins allowed a tie-up held ball that gave Wyoming possession.
Meyer led the way in this comeback, spending a lot of time at the free throw line, but netting eight points in the final 77 seconds of the game as Wyoming slowly, but surely, drew closer and closer. All they needed was one more door to remain open, left there by the Aggies.
Collins propped the door to that comeback open by missing one last free throw with 13 seconds left and Utah State only holding a two-point lead, 85-83.
Meyer brought the ball up the court and Wyoming put its faith in the man who had the hot hand. A 3-pointer would have surely won the game, but Meyer opted to attack. Falslev, although he criticized his own defensive performance, stonewalled Meyer’s drive and forced a mid-range floater. The game-tying shot bounced off the rim, though the battle wasn’t won yet. A scramble for the loose ball ensured, ending with a held ball. Thanks to the earlier tie-up that had given Wyoming the ball, the Aggies were given possession with 0.2 seconds left.
Disaster averted.
“Luckily, (Meyer) missed. Luckily, we jumped on that ball,” Falslev said. (Karson Templin) had a great play on the ball and Elijah Perryman jumped on it. It was a good play by those two.”
Oddly enough, the fact the game ended with such a close margin was something Calhoun saw as a positive.
“I’m actually glad this happened because I think this is a good thing. I think it keeps you on your toes as a coach,” Calhoun said. “We we have to do a better job of getting them organized. We do situations every day. I love situations. I think they’re really important. They make or break your season but obviously we didn’t execute those situations. So I think winning like this is really good. Brings you down a little bit. We just had two emotional wins. We’ve been on the road for five days. It’s just a game you can learn from. Coaches, players we can all get better.”
Falslev drew on a similar positive.
“We got to be better and I’m glad that we can learn from a win.”
With a two-game road trip complete, Utah State will now return to Logan as winners of five straight games and get to host Fresno State on Tuesday.
