SAN DIEGO — In danger of their season coming to an abrupt and disappointing end, the Utah State Aggies suddenly found new life on the first day of spring.
After trailing by 10 points early in the second half of Friday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against 8 seed Villanova, 9 seed Utah State managed to rally back and make it a contest again.
Then with the game on the line, the Aggies finished with an all-time great flourish, outscoring the Wildcats 15-5 over the final four minutes on their way to closing out an 86-76 victory at Viejas Arena.
“One of the things that always stuck out to me is coach (Jerrod Calhoun) always says, ‘You only have one life. Might as well make it great,’” USU junior guard Mason Falslev said.
“I always think about that, that we really do have limited time on the earth, so we might as well do something great and be a part of something great.”
The 2026 Mountain West Player of the Year, Falslev (22 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and senior guard MJ Collins Jr. (20 points) led the way offensively for the Aggies, who put up 86 points despite going just 2 for 16 from 3-point range against the Wildcats.
Conversely, Villanova (24-9) is heading home despite knocking down 14 of its 30 3-point shots.
“Yeah, for sure,” Collins replied when asked if felt like the Wildcats would start to slow down offensively at some point, allowing USU’s vaunted transition game to finally get rolling.
“I know we came in for a huddle, and the coaches weren’t down. We knew at some point that they were going to wear down. They shot the cover off of the ball early, but you can’t really maintain that for 40 minutes.”
Utah State (29-8) will now face the West region’s No. 1 seed Arizona (33-2) on Sunday at a time still to be announced, with the winner advancing to the Sweet Sixteen next week in San Jose.
The Arizona Wildcats clobbered 16 seed Long Island 92-58 in Friday’s early game at Viejas.
“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge,” Jerrod Calhoun said of facing Arizona, which was the top-ranked team in the country for 10 weeks earlier this season.
“I think Tommy Lloyd is one of the best coaches in the country. They got the No. 1 seed for a reason. I love the way they play.”
Sunday’s second-round game will be the second time in three years that Utah State has had to face a No. 1 seed after winning an 8/9 game.
The No. 8 Aggies lost to Purdue 106-67 in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament after beating No. 9 seed TCU 88-72 in the first round in Indianapolis.
The victory over the Horned Frogs ended a 23-year drought between Utah State victories in the NCAA tourney, but playing in front of 11,418 fans on the home court of their conference rival San Diego State, the Aggies made certain it was a mere two years between wins this time around.
And with former USU teammate Great Osobor — the star of that 2023-24 Aggies team — in the stands cheering them on, Falslev and junior forward Karson Templin (four points, five rebounds) now have the rare distinction of being Aggies who have won two March Madness games in three years.
However, it didn’t appear that would be in the case early in the second half when Utah State, which was down 39-37 at halftime, was outscored 9-1 coming out of the locker room.
That led to a timeout by Calhoun with 17:51 left in the game and his team trailing 48-38.
“That was very uncharacteristic of us, so I thought if we hit the panic button, our players would, too,” Calhoun said of the Aggies’ performance in the first few minutes after intermission.
“They stayed the course, and we kept chopping it down and eventually tied it and eventually kept the lead. I’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit.”
In addition to Falslev and Collins, who only combined for 10 points in the first half, Utah State also got big games from freshman wing Adlan Elamin (13 points, seven rebounds, three assists) and graduate guard Drake Allen (11 points, six assists).
Senior forward Garry Clark came off the bench to add seven points and four rebounds in just 15 minutes, helping Utah State’s reserves outscore the Wildcats’ backups 16-3.
Despite their woeful effort from beyond the arc, the Aggies still shot 54.9% from the floor, went a solid 28 for 36 (77.8%) from the free-throw line and outrebounded Villanova by a 37-27 margin.
Both teams committed nine turnovers, but Utah State turned the Cats’ into 18 points and outscored Villanova 14-2 in fast-break points — many of them coming down the stretch during Utah State’s incredible finish.
“I thought our guys really buckled down in the last seven, eight minutes,” Calhoun said. “Our execution offensively was tremendous...but I thought what won the game was our will to and our want to. This team has been very connected throughout the year, and in March, you have to be connected.”
Villanova, which trailed by as many as nine points in the first half, shot 44.4% from the field but was just 6 for 13 from the free-throw line.
Sophomore guard Bryce Lindsay led all scorers with 25 points (including six 3-pointers), while junior guard Tyler Perkins and senior forward Duke Brennan both added 15 points for the Wildcats.
“I thought we did a good job of spreading them out early on in the first half, then (Calhoun) switched to his matchup zone,” Villanova head coach Kevin Willard said.
“And again, Bryce plays 37 minutes, Tyler plays 37, (freshman guard) Acaden (Lewis) plays 36. I thought some of our turnovers late were a little bit of fatigue, a little tiredness.”
Utah State played with confidence early, scoring the first four points of the contest and eventually pulling away for a 15-8 advantage on a transition slam dunk by Allen six minutes into the game.
Elamin threw down a dunk of his own shortly afterward off a lob pass by Falslev, and then worked the baseline for another score to put Utah State up 22-13 and force a timeout by Willard with 12:14 left in the first half.
That nine-point lead was as good as it would get for the Aggies before intermission, as Villanova heated up from the perimeter and managed to tie the contest at 31-31 with about six minutes left before the break when Perkins banked in a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down.
The game was tied two more times in the first half before a 3-pointer by Lindsay in the final minute help propel Villanova to a 39-37 advantage at halftime.
But the Aggies were far from discouraged as they headed to their locker room.
“Coach came in at halftime, and he said we were in a good spot down two,” Collins said. “We weren’t making 3s, so we kind of knew we had to rely on our defense, and it kind of carried us in the second half.
“That’s what we’re known for, is getting our offense based on our defense. We switched up a couple of coverages late in the game, and it kind of messed them up and they were kind of stagnant, and we executed off of it.”
It was a couple of Aggie turnovers and a 3-pointer by Perkins that helped get the Wildcats rolling early in the second half, but Utah State was a far different team over the final 18 minutes.
Eight of Villanova’s nine turnovers came in the second half, and the Aggies caught up to the Cats at 54-54 with a 16-6 run capped off by a steal and a breakaway layup by Allen.
“Coach always talks about, especially us seniors, us older guys, that we’ve got to be desperate,” Allen said. “This is our last go, really.
“You never know if you’re going to be playing pro, playing overseas or whatever, so we always talk about being desperate, and I think that it showed tonight. We were desperate in that last 10 minutes to get a win.”
And that certainly includes Collins. The MVP of the Mountain West tournament knocked down two free throws with 3:54 to go to tie the game for the fourth and final time in the second half.
After two free throws from Allen, Collins stole a pass near the top of the key, dribbled the ball behind his back on the run to get around Lewis and then scored the basketball despite being fouled by Perkins.
Collins’ 3-point play lifted the Aggies to a 78-73 lead with 2:53 to go, and Utah State just kept rolling, energized by a decidedly pro-Aggie crowd in the stands at Viejas Arena.
While the Aggies closed out the game on a 15-3 run, Villanova totaled just one field goal in the final six minutes.
“We were not too fond of being a No. 9 seed,” Calhoun said after winning his first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach.
“We won 28 games. We won the regular-season (Mountain West) title. We won the tournament title, and when this team has an edge, and they play with a little bit of swagger and a little bit of toughness and resilience, we can cause a lot of problems.”