LEXINGTON, KY — The Aggies suffered an inglorious end to their season Thursday night, losing to UCLA 72-47 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Rupp Arena. Utah State guard Mason Falslev scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, but it was far from enough for the No. 10 Aggies (26-8) against the No. 7 Bruins (23-10).
Here are the three keys to Utah State’s loss to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament:
• The Aggies were within two points of the Bruins with 4:37 left in the first half before UCLA embarked on a game-changing 12-0 run. Utah State missed 10 of its final 11 shots of the first half, and didn’t score a field goal over the final 4:26 as the Aggies went into halftime trailing 39-27. A 14-0 run midway through the second half was more than enough for the Bruins to put USU in its rearview mirror.
• Utah State’s leading scorer Ian Martinez (16.8 points per game) was 0 for 5 in the first half and missed his first shot of the second half before finally scoring on a put back with 16:32 for his inaugural score of the game. Martinez finished the game 1-for-11 from the field with just two points in his final contest as an Aggie after scoring in double figures in every game this season.
• The Aggies made their first two 3-point attempts of the game, but then missed 15 straight over the remainder of the first half. Utah State ended going a woeful 4-for-31 (12.9%) from 3-point range for the night, its worst performance of the season.