LOGAN — It was an impressive hustle play that turned into a bad omen for the Utah State Aggies.
Utah State was clinging to a four-point lead against UC San Diego with five minutes left in the first half of Tuesday night’s game at the Spectrum when forward Karson Templin dived after a long rebound and found himself in the middle of a battle for the basketball with a pair of Triton players.
In the midst of the scrum, Templin somehow twisted his body and ended up on his head. His feet were sticking straight up in the air, carefully supported by USU guard Mason Falslev, who held his teammate’s ankles until his fellow sophomore was finally ready to get back on his feet.
Templin and the Aggies were awarded the possession off the jump ball, but it was a sign that Utah State’s unblemished season was about to be turned upside down.
UC San Diego abruptly ended USU’s best-ever start to the season with a 75-73 win on Stew Morrill Court Tuesday night, and while first-year head coach Jerrod Calhoun was disappointed in his first loss at Utah State, he was anything but shocked.
“I’ve been saying it for 48 hours: That is the best team we’ve played,” Calhoun said. “I don’t know if anybody believed me, but I’ve been here for two days straight trying to figure them out, and I think they’re really good.”
The win was the eighth in a row for the Tritons (10-2), who won at Idaho by 24 points on Sunday, then traveled straight to Cache Valley for the matchup with the Aggies (10-1).
But after trailing 39-32 at halftime, UC San Diego hardly seemed fatigued or bothered by the elevation on its way to becoming just the fourth visiting team in the past three seasons to win at game at the Spectrum.
“I’m exceptionally proud,” UCSD head coach Eric Olen said. “This was a great performance from us in a tough environment. I know we didn’t get the full effect with not all of the students being here, but we felt it late. That’s a hell of a basketball team, so this is really a terrific accomplishment for us to get this win.”
The Tritons shot 46.8% for the game but overcame an 8-for-27 effort from 3-point range by knocking down free throws in bunches. UC San Diego knocked down 23 of 27 attempts from the line for the game, including an 18-for-21 performance in the second half.
Senior swingman Aniwaniwa Tati-Jones did most of the damage, connecting on 10 of his 12 free throws on his way to 20 points, while senior guard Tyler McGhie led all players with six 3-pointers and 24 total points.
Senior point guard Hayden Gray added 15 points for the Tritons, who made the jump from Division II to Division I in 2020.
Utah State, which will play its first true road game of the season Sunday at St. Mary’s, got a career-high 18 points from Templin, who also came up with seven rebounds and two steals in 19 minutes.
Falslev, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week, finished with 16 points and nine rebounds on 4 for 11 shooting, while guard Ian Martinez struggled even more, going just 4 for 17 from the field and 2 for 11 from 3-point range on his way to a 12-point night.
Guard Deyton Albury was a bright spot for the home team in totaling a season-high 15 points, but as a team, the Aggies shot 40% for the game and a woeful 28.6% in the second half.
Utah State did finish 17 for 24 from the free-throw line but went just 8 for 28 from 3-point range while facing a matchup zone defense very similar to its own.
“It was just a matter of us getting in the flow of the offense,” Albury said. “They play pretty much the same defense as we do, but we were just trying to get into a flow and make shots. Making shots was tough for us in the second half.”
Now in his 12th season at UCSD, Olen guided the Tritons to a 21-12 record and a second-place finish in the Big West Conference last season, and UC San Diego is poised for even more success in 2024-25.
“This is a team, that if they make the NCAA Tournament — and I think they will — will be a 13 seed playing a 4 seed, and they’ll be an absolute nightmare,” Calhoun said.
“They’ve got five guys on the floor that can pass, catch and shoot. They’re old, they’re experienced and they’ve got a lot of chemistry.”
The Aggies seemed to have very little of any of that, especially in the second half.
Already down 6-0 to start the contest, Utah State suffered a severe blow when starting point guard Drake Allen crumpled to the floor after being fouled by Gray just over three minutes into the game.
The Westlake High grad immediately grabbed his right shoulder and ended up spending the right of the game on the bench with his right arm in a sling.
“I’m not sure what happened to his shoulder,” Calhoun said of Allen, “but it was out of the socket, so hopefully we’ll get him back.”
Pressed into extra playing time, Albury went 5 for 5 from the floor in the first half, including two 3-point attempts, to help the Aggies go ahead by as many as seven points.
But the Tritons quickly gave notice that they weren’t going to wither in the second half, as they scored the first six points after halftime, forcing Calhoun to call a timeout with the Aggies clinging to a 39-38 lead.
Martinez, who didn’t have a foul in the first half, picked four fouls in the first 13 minutes of the second half while he and his teammates continually struggled to get shots to fall in close vicinity of the basket.
The Tritons, meanwhile, managed to put together a 9-0 run mostly thanks to free throws, to take a 56-53 lead with under seven minutes left and shock the primarily student-less crowd of 7,354.
The Aggies battled back behind a rare 3-pointer and two free throws by Templin, but Utah State’s final lead of the game came at 63-61 thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers and a tough leaner in the lane by McGhie.
UC San Diego went ahead 71-64 with 53 seconds remaining on two free throws by guard Chris Howell, but Templin gave the Aggies a fighting chance by snagging an offense rebound, bursting out to the perimeter and burying a 3-pointer in front of the Aggie bench.
The Texas native was fouled, but he failed to make the free throw to leave UC San Diego up 71-67. A strip steal by Falslev led to a breakaway dunk for Utah State’s Tucker Anderson that pulled the Aggies to within 71-69 with 20 seconds to go, but the visitors made all four of their free-attempts the rest of the way and came up with a key steal to help secure the victory.
“Our guys aren’t going to give up,” Calhoun said. “Our guys are tough, resilient kids. There’s a reason we won 10 games in a row and were one of the last six teams to lose in the country, but it’s hard to do that day in and day out. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing.”