Even though most Thanksgiving leftovers are long gone, Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun still found an additional item to be grateful for nearly a week later.
“We are very, very thankful we won this game,” Calhoun declared after the Aggies’ tough, 70-67 victory over Wyoming Wednesday night.
After cruising through the November portion of its home schedule against lesser opponents, the Aggies found the going a whole lot harder in its first Mountain West game of the season.
Utah State (8-0 overall, 1-0 in the Mountain West) managed to hold off the Cowboys (5-3, 0-1) at the Spectrum to maintain its perfect record, but the clash between the old rivals served notice that all games in a conference that sent a record six teams to the NCAA Tournament last season are going to be a challenge.
“It was definitely ugly,” USU graduate guard Ian Martinez declared. “We didn’t play our best basketball. We had a better second half, but it probably shouldn’t have been that close.”
The Aggies, who are now one of nine remaining unbeaten teams in the country, survived despite suffering through its second-worst shooting night of the season. Utah State shot just 41% from the field as a team, including a 5-for-17 performance from 3-point range.
“The last three or four games, our offense has not been where it’s supposed to be,” Calhoun said. “But that was a very, very hard-fought Mountain West game. I don’t think our new guys quite understand the physicality because they haven’t played against that type of physicality night in and night out.
“... This is a monster league with guys with big-time bodies that are going to bump you,” Calhoun added. “Hopefully they new guys can continue to improve and get better because the returning guys are absolutely carrying us. That’s Ian (Martinez). That’s Mason Falslev. That’s Karson Templin.”
That trio of returning players from last season’s 28-win team combined for 43 points and 17 of USU’s 35 rebounds. Martinez led the way with 23 points and three 3-pointers, while Falslev finished with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals and Templin added 11 points and six boards.
Martinez, who went 16 for 16 from the free-throw line in USU’s previous home game on Nov. 18, knocked down all eight of his attempts on Wednesday. Templin, a sophomore forward from Texas, went 7 for 8 from the line.
Those free throws ended up being critical as the Aggies failed to completely shake the Cowboys down the stretch despite leading up by as many as eight points in the second half. Utah State went up 70-64 with 35 seconds left when graduate point guard Drake Allen came off a screen by Templin and found Falslev underneath the basket for an easy score.
The Aggies then seemed to secure the victory when Allen came up with a defensive rebound with 14.6 seconds to go, but the Westlake High product missed both free throws. Utah State guard Dexter Akanno came up with the rebound following the second misfire, but he couldn’t get the putback to go down, and Wyoming guard Kobe Newton took advantage, flying up the court and quickly burying a 3-pointer from more than 30 feet out to pull the Cowboys within three points with 6.9 seconds left.
After a Wyoming timeout, the Aggies managed to get the ball in the hands of Martinez, who raced up the sideline. But USU’s leading scorer lost control at the Aggies’ end of the court, and the basketball ended up in the hands of Wyoming’s Jordan Nesbitt. The senior guard timed his launch perfectly, firing up a shot from just beyond midcourt, but his game-tying attempt went off the front of the rim as the game clock expired.
“That was crazy,” Martinez said of the final moments. “I thought that shot (Newton) made was just kind of a prayer for them. But the guy was shooting pretty well, and he was just hot.
“... And at the end, I had that turnover, and thankfully that guy didn’t make it.”
Utah State led hardly any of the first half, and after going up 3-2 to start the game, the hosts either trailed or were tied with the Cowboys until the last minute before intermission. Concerned with Wyoming’s deliberate pace of play, Calhoun had the Aggies play full-court press down the stretch, which helped trigger an 8-0 to end the first half.
A four-point play by Akanno, pull-up 3-pointer in transition by Martinez and free throw by Templin helped stake Utah State to a 32-29 advantage at halftime after trailing by as many as five points.
“I thought that was a big adjustment, just trying to speed them up because they just walked the ball up every time,” Calhoun said of putting on the press. “You can’t just let a team come down and hold the ball for 25 seconds when you’re not playing well offensively.”
Wyoming lost despite shooting an even 50% in both halves, going an identical 12 for 24 from the field. The Cowboys also went 12 for 26 from beyond the arc, led by Newton who connected on 5 of 10 3-point attempts.
Newton and senior guard Obi Agbim both finished with 17 points for Wyoming, while Nesbitt added 13 points and nine rebounds.
“They made more winning plays than us tonight, that’s why they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country,” Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks said. “Our guys are really showing how resilient they are and how gritty they are. We wanted to win ugly; it was definitely not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination. I’m super proud of our guys and very encouraged about how they executed. That was probably our best, most complete game as far as execution is concerned.”
Wednesday’s game was a reunion of sorts for Wicks and Calhoun, both first-year Mountain West coaches who split two games last season in the Horizon League when Calhoun was at Youngstown State and Wicks was in his lone season as the head coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
