LOGAN — Fortunately for senior guard MJ Collins Jr., the Utah State basketball team boasted a little extra open space for their open practice at the Wayne Estes Center earlier this week.
After snaring a bounce pass from teammate Drake Allen and nailing a 3-pointer from the left baseline, the transfer from Vanderbilt took the long way back up the court, looping around between the fans in the stands and the back of the Aggies’ bench area and the scorer’s table before returning to the playing floor.
That’s a route that certainly isn’t possible across the parking lot in the tight confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. But on Monday night, the USU faithful who took advantage of a late invite from head coach Jerrod Calhoun to get an early glimpse of the 2025-26 version of the Aggies clearly enjoyed seeing Collins knock down a trey and add a little fun flourish afterwards.
“If he sees the game, MJ and Mason will be a heck of a one-two scoring punch,” Calhoun said of Collins, who averaged 7.4 points and 20.3 minutes while playing in 32 games for the Commodores last season. “I mean, I thought he was awesome tonight. … I thought he made great decisions with the ball, and his shot creativity is really good.
“He’s a little bit like Ian (Martinez). He’s just got to continue to understand he’s going to be a good focal point of what we’re doing. … We expect him to have his best year yet. Most of these one-year kids do, and he’s a guy that I thought was awesome tonight.”
Overall, Calhoun said he was far more pleased with his team’s performance during Monday night’s 67-minute practice session than he was with one last week that was open for the media. The Aggies will wrap up their limited summer practice schedule on Friday, so the second-year USU coach was thrilled that his balanced roster of five returnees, five transfers and five freshmen put together a better effort while playing in front of more than 200 Aggie fans.
“It was a small environment, but a lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of little kids, and our guys need that. That’s what a game is,” Calhoun said. “You have to be able to block out those distractions and execute. And I thought tonight we were a lot better than the (other) day. We weren’t very good the other night, so I was glad you got to see a little better version of the Aggies tonight.”
After getting up early for morning practices this summer, the Aggies were treated to a 6 p.m. session in order to better accommodate Utah State fans interested in getting a look at Calhoun’s revamped roster. The Aggies didn’t market the event at all, but they simply put it on social media last Friday that everyone was invited to the Wayne Estes Center on Monday after it was cleared by USU compliance officer Tony Hearrell.
Unsure of how many fans would show up, Utah State only pulled out four rows of seats on either side of Kirby Court. However, by the time practice got underway, additional chairs were brought out and the space quickly became standing-room only.
“I thought the new guys got to see what this place is about tonight, what makes it special,” Calhoun said. “We saw (USU’s all-time leading scorer) Jaycee Carroll in here tonight, and some other former Aggies, a lot of little kids, a lot of youth. That’s who we can impact.
“And then, of course, there’s our die-hard fans, you know, you saw them in here tonight. So, I’m going to do it in the fall. I think we got to have more access.
“I think if we’re going to go out and ask people for money to support our program, we’ve got to create some different access points for our fans to come in and see these guys and build a relationship. And it’s good for our new guys to meet people.”
After breaking their huddle at the end of practice, Calhoun and his staff and players gestured for the fans to come out of their seats and join them on the court for a group photograph underneath the south basket. He and the Aggies then accommodated autograph and selfie requests for another 10-15 minutes.
“It was super fun,” USU junior wing Tucker Anderson said afterwards. “I heard someone say at the beginning, ‘This is more fans than I had at home games last year, and it’s probably the same for me at Central Arkansas my freshman year. So, it’s awesome.
“And it just shows how the community rallies that in just three days, you can get that many people to come out and support you. It kind of shows what you’re fighting for and what it means to put on the uniform.”
Prior to taking the floor in front of their fans, Calhoun said he showed the Aggies clips of LeBron James, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant talking about efficiency, “because last week we just threw the ball all over the gym, and I want our guys to be efficient in whatever they do.”
The Aggies certainly seemed to respond, throwing down an impressive array of dunks while working on their half-court offense, while also securing some more slams, transition baskets and 3-pointers when the blue-and-white squads played 5-on-5. Calhoun said he was thrilled with the “overall competitive nature” of the practice, and he particularly liked what he saw from the 6-foot-9 Anderson, who has added nearly 20 solid pounds during the offseason.
“You saw Tucker Anderson play great tonight,” Calhoun noted. “You know, I really got on him in the film session. I said, ‘You’ve got to be more active, and you can’t just rely on that jump shot.’ Sure enough, he comes out and plays really well.”
The play of Elijah Perryman, who ran the point for the white team, was also notable. The 6-foot-2 freshman out of the Bay Area, who averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals during his high school career, looks noticeably more comfortable in his role than he did a few weeks ago.
“He’s really good, man,” Calhoun said of Perryman. “He keeps his head up, second-winningest guy on the team the whole summer (in terms of statistics the program keeps). He’s got good size. He can finish at the rim — you saw he had that left-hand finish. And he sees in front of him really well.
“Guys like playing with him, and we’re going to play a lot of guard lineups, throw out two point guards in him and Jordy (Barnes), him and Drake or Kolby (King). There’s a number of ways we can play.”
Although the Aggies, who went to Europe last August, will take a break later in the summer this year, Calhoun hopes to kickstart interest in his program back up again in early September.
Last week he announced that Utah State will be hosting Night with the Pros on Sept. 10 at the Spectrum, an event that will feature Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, a longtime friend of Calhoun’s, and former Aggies and current NBA players Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta (if it doesn’t conflict with the Celtics center playing for Portugal in FIBA EuroBasket 2025).
A fundraiser for the men’s basketball program, Night of the Pros will include a meet-and-greet gathering, dinner, live auction and a Q&A session.
“We’ve got three guys that are associated with the NBA that are obviously two former Aggies and an NBA world champion head coach coming in here to Logan, Utah, to do a special event,” said Calhoun, who recently noted that he and his wife, Sarah, are donating $150,000 to Utah State’s NIL war chest. “We need to create some different experiences here in Logan. Our brand is national, going into the Pac-12. It’s an exciting time, so I want to try to create those opportunities for different people.”
