Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun referred to his team’s performance against UNLV Thursday night as “a bit of a trainwreck.”
But despite their struggles, the Aggies are still on track to win a Mountain West tournament championship.
“I’m proud of our guys. Obviously, it’s the tournament and survive-and-advance time,” Calhoun proclaimed following USU’s 70-58 win over the Rebels in the quarterfinals of the conference tourney at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. “I’ve been watching the games here at the Thomas & Mack, and nobody is really scoring the basketball. So, it’s either really bad offenses or really good defenses.
“But were a bit of a trainwreck tonight with 12 assists and 15 turnovers; that’s uncharacteristic of our group. But as I told our group, I was proud of the fact that we were plus-4 on the glass and imposed our will.”
Graduate guard Ian Martinez (17 points) and sophomore guard Mason Falslev (15 points) led the way offensively for Utah State, which pulled out the win despite committing 27 fouls, having two players foul out and three others finish the game with four fouls.
“You know, it’s hard, especially when we think we’re keeping our hands up,” Falslev said of the significant foul discrepancy. “But I mean, that was their whole game plan was to isolate us and attack us and get to the free-throw line, and they did a good job of that. And you know, we’ve got to do better at not fouling.”
The Rebels, who were called for 16 total fouls, ended up knocking down 29 of 37 free-throw attempts. That played a big role in the game considering UNLV (18-15) shot just 23.6% on their home floor, including a 3-for-20 performance from 3-point range.
Conversely, the Aggies were just 12 of 17 from the free-throw line, but they shot 46.3% from the field and knocked down 8 of their 25 3-point attempts.
Sophomore forward Karson Templin contributed nine points and six rebounds for the Aggies, despite playing just 17 minutes due to foul trouble. And Tucker Anderson equaled Martinez with a team-high three 3-pointers, but he also had foul issues and logged only 16 minutes.
The Aggies, who led by as many as 11 points early in the game, surrendered a 17-3 run to the Rebels later in the first half that left them briefly trailing by three points. Utah State steadied the ship over the final six minutes, however, and closed the half out with a 17-7 burst to take a 36-29 advantage into halftime.
The contest was a grind in the second half due to the Aggies committing 16 fouls and turning the ball over 10 times, but the Rebels still never managed to get closer than four points the remainder of the game.
Junior guard Jaden Henley led UNLV with 19 points thanks to an 11-for-12 effort from the free-throw line, while forward Jalen Hill and guard Jailen Bedford both finished with 13 points. The Rebels played just seven men Thursday due to a recent rash of injuries that sidelined, most notably, leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr. and graduate guard Julian Rishwain in recent weeks.
“What an awesome fight,” UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger declared. “I mean, what an awesome 40-minute fight by our guys. Obviously, we came up a little bit short, but going into a Utah State matchup, you know you’re going to have to play incredibly hard for 40 minutes because of how hard they play and how together they play.
“And with some of the mileage that we’ve asked the guys to put on their legs over the last couple of weeks, I thought it was just an absolutely awesome fight by our guys to compete and really do everything in their power to have a chance to win a ballgame against a really good team.”
The third-seeded Aggies (24-6) will now face No. 2 Colorado State (23-9) in the second game of the semifinals at 10 p.m. Friday. The Rams advanced courtesy of a 67-59 victory over No. 7 Nevada on Thursday. Senior guard Nique Clifford led the way for the Rams scoring a game-high 25 points and snaring a game-best 14 rebounds in 37 minutes.
“We need two out of our five starters to step up for tomorrow because you Coach (Niko) Medved’s group is playing really well – they really are,” said Calhoun, who suffered a brutal, 93-66 loss at Colorado State on March 1. “I’ve told NBA guys, ‘You guys are absolutely crazy if you don’t take Nique Clifford in the first round.’ I think he’s that good. He’s really, really good player.
“They’ve won eight in a row … and they’re humming. Their offense is humming, and where they don’t get enough credit is for their defense, so our offense has got to be much better if we’re going to win the game.”
Top-seeded New Mexico eliminated No. 8 San Jose State with a 63-52 win in the first game of the tournament on Thursday, while No. 5 Boise State knocked out No. 4 San Diego State with a 62-52 victory. The Lobos (26-6) will take on the Broncos (23-9) at 7:30 p.m. MT Friday.