LOGAN — Utah State maintained it’s perfect record despite a less-than-perfect performance Saturday night against a short-handed and under-sized Utah Tech squad.
“You can’t take winning for granted,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said following the Aggies’ 92-62 victory over the Trailblazers at the Spectrum.
“Boise (State) and Wyoming also played those guys and they struggled against them early in the game because of their cutting and their ability to drive the ball, so I’m proud of our guys’ effort, but we’ve got a lot to clean up.”
With the win, Utah State (9-0) tied the record for the best start in school history, equaling the accomplishments of the 1917-18 and 2022-23 teams.
Calhoun also surpassed Ladell Anderson’s record for the best start ever by a first-year coach at USU, bettering Anderson’s 8-0 mark to open the 1961-62 season.
“I think that’s a testament to our group,” Calhoun said. “We have a mentality that it’s we over me, so it’s not about me. This isn’t Jerrod Calhoun’s team, but it does show that when you bring in a group of guys with a common goal, you can win games. ... But it’s a heck of an accomplishment for this group because this is a storied program.
“This is one of the best programs in the West and in the country, so to be a part of it is spectacular. It’s a special place — I’ve said that since I’ve got here — and we’re only getting started.”
One of nine unbeaten teams left in the nation, Utah State shot 49.2% from the field against the Trailblazers (2-9), but finished just 8 for 29 from 3-point range and committed 14 turnovers — nine of them in the first half.
The Aggies led by as many as 17 points in the first half, took a 42-28 lead in the locker room at halftime and were up by as many as 26 midway through the second half before Utah Tech put together a 9-0 run.
That burst led Calhoun to calling a timeout with 5:55 left and his team up 74-57, and Utah State responded with a 9-0 run of its own that made the crowd of 8,270 a little more comfortable.
“We had some looks,” Calhoun said of the rough stretch before calling timeout, “but there just wasn’t a sense of urgency. You only get so many of these games, and you cannot take things for granted.”
Sophomore forward Karson Templin played a big role during the Aggies’ run of nine unanswered points, including a block, a steal and two slam dunks.
A couple of free throws and a 3-pointer by graduate guard guard Dexter Akanno also quickly helped Utah State right the ship after missing four straight shots.
Akanno ended up leading the home team with 16 points, while Templin scored 10 points in 15 minutes. Graduate guard Ian Martinez (13 points), forward Aubin Gateretse (12 points) and graduate guard Drake Allen (12 points, seven rebounds) also scored in double figures.
Sophomore guard Mason Falslev (nine points, nine rebounds) came up just short of recording a double-double.
“The last couple of games I think I’ve underperformed, dramatically,” said Allen, who equaled his season-high in points scored and set a new season-high in assists against Utah Tech.
“The coaches had a meeting with me and kind of challenged me to get myself back to where I really am, and that’s getting downhill and making plays. I haven’t shied away from it, but I haven’t been doing as much as I should, so it was a challenge.”
The Trailblazers played Saturday’s game without the services of leading scorer Beon Riley (13.8 point, 7.8 rebounds per game). But Calhoun, who faced Utah Tech last season while at Youngstown State, said that might have actually hurt the Aggies because without the 6-foot-6 senior, the Blazers went with a smaller and quicker lineup with even more cutting and driving, helping to negate USU’s size advantage.
“It was a strange game,” Calhoun noted. “... They put another guard in, where I like to see a couple of bigs because we don’t have to chase them as much.”
Utah Tech, which fell to 0-7 on the road this season with the loss, shot just under 48.3% in the second half after knocking down just 34.4% of their attempts in the first half. But the Trailblazers were outrebounded by a 47-29 margin and knocked down only 8 of 31 3-point shots.
Senior guard Justin Bieker (14 points, four 3-pointers) was the lone Utah Tech player to reach double figures in scoring, but it was a memorable return to the Spectrum for Dallin Grant.
The Cedar High product, who redshirted for the Aggies last season during Danny Sprinkle’s lone season in Logan, checked in for the Trailblazers midway through the second half and quickly hit a short jumper in the lane and a 3-pointer on his way to scoring five points and pulling down two rebounds in 10 minutes.
It was also a return to Cache Valley for Utah Tech head coach Jon Judkins, a Utah State graduate who recorded the first triple-double in school history for the Aggies during the 1987-88 season.
“In the first half we did some really good things, and then the first four minutes of the second half were a disaster,” Judkins said, taking note of USU’s 9-2 spurt coming out of halftime. “They go on a run, and now it’s back to 20-something. ... It’s just our turnovers on our press offense. The guards were just playing too much catch in the backcourt instead of looking up the court, because we had some 20-to-25-foot passes over the top to guys, and we just didn’t see them.
“They’re a good team,” Judkins said about Utah State. “They played extremely hard and they’re long, but we got them out their zone — that’s one thing that I was really happy with. That matchup zone they did, we hurt them with some back cuts and they got out of it and went man-to-man.”