Utah State completes championship sweep of Mountain West with win over SDSU | Sports

LAS VEGAS — In their final season in the Mountain West, Utah State did what it had never done before. The Aggies have, multiple times, climbed the mountain of winning the regular season conference championship and rising to the peak by winning the conference tournament championship. But on Saturday, Utah State complete a sweep of both in the same season, clinching the conference tournament title with a 73-62 win over San Diego State exactly one week after claiming the outright regular season championship.

In 13 seasons in the Mountain West, the Aggies hadn’t won an outright regular season title and conference tournament title in the same season, though this year’s rings will be number five and six for Utah State in its MW era.

The win by the Aggies broke a tie between the two teams set up from the last four meetings in the title game. Utah State won in 2019 and 2020, the latter featuring Sam Merrill’s famed last-second buzzer-beater that punched USU’s ticket to a later cancelled NCAA Tournament. But San Diego State won the next two title-game bouts in 2021 and 2023, meaning the Aggies also broke a losing streak with Saturday’s victory.

In a poetic way, the Aggies were able to close out its Mountain West schedule by avenging all three of the losses that had many believing Utah State was fading down the stretch. USU lost 92-65 to UNLV, 80-77 to Nevada and 89-71 to SDSU within a five-game stretch. And across three days this weekend the Aggies claimed victories over all three teams in turn.

“I kind of deem this our redemption tour,” Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “UNLV beat us twice, Nevada beat us at Nevada, and obviously got embarrassed a couple weeks ago by the Aztecs. We were coming in here to be the bully, we were coming in here for a redemption tour, and it certainly was accomplished.”

One of Utah State’s key weaknesses in those late-season losses was a lack of physicality and defense. Calhoun made every effort to ensure his team didn’t continue down that path.

“We were not going to be bullied. We were going to be the bully,” Calhoun said.

That mentality was needed to the fullest degree against San Diego State, a team that has long embodied physicality and toughness. From the first tip the Aztecs proved difficult to defend as Utah State committed several fouls in the opening minutes, sending SDSU to the free throw line 14 times in the first half overall. The Aggies also gave up numerous offensive boards, particularly to Aztecs All-Tournament Team center Magoon Gwath who had four offensive rebounds in the first half alone.

Utah State responded to the Aztecs by feeding them some of their own medicine. San Diego State are one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers, but so are the Aggies and they forced 14 turnovers from SDSU throughout the game. Utah State only committed six turnovers all afternoon.

Another area of strength Utah State attacked San Diego State in was dominance of the paint. The Aggies more than doubled the Aztecs’ points in the paint with a 46-22 advantage. And that was a key aspect to what Calhoun wanted to accomplish in this game. And with the Aggies only hitting 6 of 21 threes in the game, it was quite necessary.

“I told them (to) quit launching threes,” Calhoun said. “It’s a real simple formula, establish yourself in the paint, whether a post-up or a drive, get two feet in the paint, collapse the defense, and get the ball on the rim. Get the ball on the rim.”

CLARK with his own clean up 👏📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/QYvQRqUUIC

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 14, 2026

MJ COLLINS JUST DID THAT!! 🤯@USUBasketball 📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/zDb2eDX00u

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 14, 2026

Still, even with Utah State making its presence felt in full, San Diego State presented as tough a challenge as ever. And despite building leads of five-plus points on three seperate occasions, the Aztecs fought through to take a 35-34 halftime lead. Utah State missed nine of its last 10 shots of the first half.

“We kind of collapsed at the end of that first half,” Calhoun said. “We watched every single offensive clip. I was not happy with some of the things we were doing at the end of the first half.”

The failure at the end of the first half required a response, and Calhoun drew up a great plan to begin things. And it was his veteran point guard Drake Allen that played it out. Allen scored every point in a 7-0 Aggie run to start the second half.

Aggies 7-0 run to start the second half 👀📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/a57UUCjlxd

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 14, 2026

“Great job from Coach,” Allen said. “Coach gives us a lot of freedom. That’s why on offense we can be so dangerous. And that was the read. We had a great back screen. I think it was MJ. Great screen on the big letting me get downhill. And then the next play, another draw-up, and they fall asleep on defense and was able to step into a wide-open three.”

That run set the tone necessary for the second half, denying San Diego State the momentum it desperately sought. And over the course of the second half, Utah State slowly eroded the Aztecs’ will to fight back.

The decisive blow came from another 7-0 run, though it was part of a larger 12-2 run. MJ Collins, who finished with a team’-high 20 points to go with three rebounds and three steals, hit back-to-back 3-pointers. The latter was part of a five-point play where Zach Keller was fouled while Collins was in the process of hitting a triple. Keller buried both foul shots and Adlan Elamin added a tip-in on the next possession to complete the run which put Utah State up 11 points, 65-54, with 4:21 to play.

MJ COLLINS IS HIM📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/ZBPVv40bL2

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 15, 2026

“Credit to coach. He always tells me to make the right read,” Collins said of those plays. “As I’m coming off the pin-downs and I’m taking a rearview peek at Reese (Dixon-Waters) to see how he’s guarding me, I curled one of them, hit the three. And the second one he tried to shoot the gap, and I bumped it. A great screen by Zach, great pass by Mason [Falslev], and the shot goes down. It’s a big swing because it was a five-point swing right there, Zach goes to the line, hits two free throws. So it was huge.”

With the knockout punch having landed, Utah State just had to outlast the desperate lunges from the Aztecs. Gwath had a mini five-point burst and B.J. Davis hit a 3-pointer to bring the Aggies’ lead back to single digits. But with a couple more stops and a statement slam dunk from Garry Clark with 37 seconds left, Utah State slammed the door on any chance of a rally.

Collins wound up winning the Mountain West Tournament MVP, and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Falslev and Allen. Collins averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals in his three tournament games.

“It means the world,” Collins said of winning the award. “But it also shows how good our team is. Mason got Mountain West Player of the Year, and then I can come and get the MVP. I know you said we look at team accolades. This is a team accolade. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, so I’m thankful for them and Coach Calhoun, of course. Like I’ve continued to say, the fans travel for us. On their spring break, they gave their time up to come and support us, so it means the world.”

Now, with its Mountain West era effecively at its close, Utah State will now turn toward its next adventure: its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in last seven times the tournament has been held.

“We’re going to get back to Logan. We’re going to take tomorrow off physically. But it starts again tomorrow night,” Calhoun said. “We’ll be drinking more coffees, and we’ll be in Estes. You don’t sleep as a coach. How could you? This is the greatest time in the world for college basketball coaches and players and fans. Buckle up; the next three weeks could be really good.”