Eric & Jason W/ The
Full Court Press

Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 124-114 to close in on the Warriors for 9th in the West | Sports

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson each scored 25 points, Donovan Clingan had 21 points and 15 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 124-114 on Friday night. With Golden State’s loss to Minnesota, the Trail Blazers moved within a half-game of the Warriors for the ninth seed in the Western Conference. Brice Sensabaugh led Utah with 31 points. After Utah jumped out to a 33-15 lead, the Trail Blazers found their footing and went on a 27-5 run to take control. Portland’s Sidy Cissoko’s 3-pointer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second to make it 38-34, part of a 14-0 run to open the periodr. Portland took its first lead on a 3-pointer by Holiday, and led 66-58 at halftime. The Jazz made several runs to cut into the lead in the second half. A layup by Oscar Tshiebwe made it 91-89 with 2:01 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Jazz would get. Sensabaugh’s sixth 3-pointer making it 106-101 with 5:49 left. Portland answered with consecutive 3s by Holiday and Henderson to make it 114-103 with 3:28 left. Utah’s Ace Bailey was ruled out after seven minutes

Episode Details »

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. 14 Mar 2026: The

Episode Details »

Utah State’s defense leads the way in semifinal win over Nevada | Sports

LAS VEGAS — Utah State’s defense has had its share of poor defensive outings late in the season. Friday’s semifinal victory over Nevada, in which the Aggies won by a convincing score of 79-66, will not be counted among those. And with the win, USU will advance to its first Mountain West Tournament championship game appearance since 2023. Jerrod Calhoun’s squad made life miserable for the normally efficient Wolf Pack offense. Nevada shot just 41% from the field, its 11th-worst mark of the season, and had a season-worst 15 turnovers (tied with one other game). Combined with Thursday’s win over UNLV where the Aggies held the Rebels to 60 points, it’s been quite the resurgence for the a USU defense that allowed 84.0 points per game in the final five games of the regular season. “It’s just attention to detail. It’s a long season, so at times you can get lackluster,” USU forward Karson Templin said. “Last year we had a similar end to our season. We kind of tailed off at the end of the regular season, lost some games. So I think this year we really wanted to emphasize that we’re going to get back to what we do,

Episode Details »

Knicks beat the Jazz 134-117 to end a 2-game losing streak | Sports

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 28 points, Jordan Clarkson had 27 and the New York Knicks rallied to beat the Utah Jazz 134-117 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game losing streak. Brunson also had eight assists and three steals in a game the Knicks trailed 49-31 early in the second quarter. OG Anunoby added 22 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. New York made 17 3-pointers and shot 52% from the field. Brice Sensabaugh led Utah with 29 points. Ace Bailey added 21, and Keyonte George had 14 points and five assists before leaving midway through the third quarter with a right hamstring injury. Utah made 11 of its first 13 3-pointers to take the early lead. Sensabaugh, Bailey, and Kevin Love teamed for seven 3s in the first 14 minutes. The Jazz finished 18 of 36 from 3-point range. The Knicks cut it to single digits before halftime, then took the lead with a 20-4 run spanning the third and fourth quarters. Clarkson punctuated the run with back-to-back baskets to put the Knicks up 101-94 less than a minute into the fourth. Clarkson scored or assisted on four baskets

Episode Details »

Utah State to face UNLV in MW quarterfinals, looking for first win against Rebels this year | Sports

LAS VEGAS – Twice Utah State faced UNLV in the regular season. Twice the Aggies were defeated, accounting for two of the only five losses USU suffered in all of conference play en route to its Mountain West regular season title. Now, a third meeting is in place between Utah State and UNLV, set for Thursday at 1 p.m. MDT in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament. The Aggies got a bye to the quarterfinal round but UNLV had to advance by way of beating Wyoming. The Rebels nearly led the win get away from them, allowing the Cowboys to rally from down by as much as 16 and get back into the game. UNLV trailed by two points in the final 30 seconds, going back up on the strength of an and-one bucket and conversion from Kimani Hamilton who led UNLV with 23 points. Tyrin Jones then recorded his sixth block of the game to seal what became a 73-70 victory. The win is the first by UNLV in the conference tournament against a team other than Air Force since 2015. Rebels head coach Josh Pastner mentioned that fact unprompted in his post-game press conference. “The Mountain West

Episode Details »

Sensabaugh scores 21, Hinson makes go-ahead 3 as depleted Jazz stun Warriors, 119-116 | Sports

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brice Sensabaugh scored 21 points, two-way player Blake Hinson made the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute, and the depleted Utah Jazz outlasted the ailing Golden State Warriors 119-116 on Monday night. Hinson made four 3-pointers including a shot from beyond the arc on the right wing with 29.9 seconds remaining to shock the Warriors, who were without Stephen Curry and several other rotation regulars. Kyle Filipowski contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds for Utah, which had lost eight of nine games. De’Anthony Melton, who led the Warriors with 22 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 117-116, but Elijah Harkless, another two-way player, clinched the game for the Jazz with two free throws to reach a career-high 16 points. Gui Santos scored 15 points and Brandin Podziemski added 14 but missed four fourth-quarter free throws for the Warriors, who have lost four of five and are struggling to stay in the NBA Play-In Tournament race in the Western Conference. After missing 40 games with back ailments, Seth Curry returned and finished with 13 points. Utah’s Keyonte George scored 15 points but didn’t play in the fourth quarter due to illness. Utah 27

Episode Details »

Squabble over exit fee leaves Utah Valley’s status uncertain for WAC tournaments | News

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The start of the Western Athletic Conference tournaments was thrown into uncertainty Tuesday, the eve of both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, when the league threatened to leave out Utah Valley over a $1 million payment it says the school hasn’t made. Utah Valley plans to leave the WAC for the Big West Conference at the end of this school year. WAC officials said in a statement posted on social media Tuesday that Utah Valley hadn’t complied with a judge’s order directing the school to place $1 million in escrow with the court, an amount equivalent to its exit fee for leaving the conference. WAC officials said the league’s board of directors instructed the commissioner to plan for the possibility that Utah Valley wouldn’t play in either tournament if the fee isn’t paid because “it would be a member not in good standing.” This creates the possibility the men’s WAC Tournament could begin without its top seed Wednesday at Las Vegas. Utah Valley had earned the top seed by winning the league’s regular-season championship. Utah Valley was seeded fourth in the women’s tournament beginning Wednesday, also in Las Vegas. WAC officials said they would release

Episode Details »

Mason Falslev named Player of the Year, one of seven All-MW honors for Utah State | Sports

Utah State men’s basketball were well-represented in this year’s All-Mountain West awards. The regular season champions accounted for three total All-MW selections, three individual awards with an overall tally of seven honors given to five Aggie players and coaches. Mason Falslev led the way by being named Mountain West Player of the Year, which he paired with being named All-MW First Team and All-Defensive Team. Along with Falslev, three of his teammates and his head coach were honored. Jerrod Calhoun was named Coach of the Year and junior forward Karson Templin earned Sixth Man of the Year. Senior guard MJ Collins was named Second Team All-MW and graduate point guard Drake Allen was an honorable mention. Falslev was the Mountain West’s best all-around player this season. He recorded five games of 20+ points, four games of 5+ assists and two games of 10+ rebounds. No other player in the league matched all three marks. Whatever Utah State needed Falslev to be, a rebounder, scorer, defender, passer, he was able to do it at a high level. In his press conference after the Aggies’ victory over New Mexico on Saturday, Calhoun said he would be voting for Falslev on his ballot

Episode Details »

Mountain West Watch (March 9) — Final Power Rankings, All-MW Ballot, Aggies’ impressive title run | Sports

The regular season has concluded, leaving us with a lot to look back on even as the premiere moment of the year, March Madness, is fully descending upon us. Yet to come is the magic of the Mountain West Conference Championships (for the men at least, the women’s basketball tournament is already delivering with its upsets and buzzer-beaters) and the Big Dance itself, the NCAA Tournament. Before all that gets underway, it’s time for one last edition of Mountain West Watch. Although it wasn’t as frequent of a series as I would have liked, it is worth noting that it will come to an end. As a beat writer for Utah State, my focus will shift toward the Pac-12 and coverage of that conference. So, let’s get started on the final entry of Mountain West Watch with a look at my final regular season power rankings, a note on Utah State’s impressive navigation of the toughest possible path to the MW title, and a review of my official All-MW ballot. Final Power Rankings These are my final power rankings for the season. I won’t go into any significant detail team-by-team, but this is a reflection of who I believe are

Episode Details »

Categories

Recent Tweets