Back in the summer of 2023, Mason Falslev was a redshirt freshman who had yet to score a point in a college basketball game.
However, the Benson native was intimately familiar with Cache Valley and Utah State University, and he helped new head coach Danny Sprinkle, his staff and a dozen new teammates navigate the early days of what turned into a spectacular 28-7 season.
The following summer, Falslev and his parents once again played host to a new coaching staff and many new teammates in Logan, but after scoring 11.3 points a game in 2023-24, head coach Jerrod Calhoun also leaned on Falslev for offensive production and his defensive skills.
Fast-forward to the summer of 2026.
Falslev’s original head coach Ryan Odom is now at Virginia after a short stint at VCU, Sprinkle is entering his third season at Washington, and Calhoun is back in his native Ohio as the new head coach at Cincinnati.
And the 24-year-old Falslev is still right where he wants to be, preparing to head into his senior season at Utah State playing for yet another new head coach in Ben Jacobson.
“I’m just grateful, you know?” said Falslev, who verbally committed to play for Utah in the summer of 2018 but pivoted to the Aggies while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil.
“So many things have happened, and it’s pretty surreal looking back at the decisions I’ve made and the things that I’ve done. And it’s just been so much fun. I’m just so thankful for the opportunity that I’ve had, and I’m super happy that I get to walk out of here as an Aggie.”
Considering the current climate of college basketball, it’s quite probable that Falslev could be the last player to spend five years in the Aggie program.
And while he once again finds himself in a position to help an entirely new coaching staff and 10 teammates discern the best places to buy groceries or get a cheeseburger in Cache Valley, Falslev’s role at the dawn of the 2026-27 season is far more than that of a welcoming committee.
The 6-foot-4 guard is the most notable roster returnee for Jacobson, having averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.9 steals as a junior — stats good enough to be named the Mountain West Player of the Year at the end of USU’s final season in the conference.
Jacobson, who was hired by USU last March after 20 years at Northern Iowa, also managed to secure the services of senior Karson Templin, a friend and teammate of Falslev’s since the 6-foot-8 forward from Texas arrived as a freshman in 2023.
“I’m super happy Karson came back,” Falslev noted. “That was one of the first conversations I had with coach (Jacobson) was, ‘You know, I need some guys to come back with me if I was going to come back.’ And he was all for it. And Karson’s one of those guys for sure.”
Additionally, Jacobson retained two freshmen who redshirted during the 2025-26 season: wing Kingston Tosi and guard Brayden Boe. Other than that, Falslev spent the Aggies’ summer practice sessions playing with 10 new teammates, with one roster spot still left to be filled before fall practices start in late September.
“I think a lot of the guys had a lot of growth, and it’s always fun getting to meet a new coaching staff and figure out, you know, what they want us to do and the things we need to do different,” Falslev said following USU’s final summer practice last week. “It’s just all about adapting, and I think we’ve adapted well in the past.
“It’s been a good time.”
When asked if it was really a “good time,” or just what he’s accustomed to after playing for four different coaches in five years, Falslev quickly confirmed: “It’s always fun.”
“A lot of people complain about the portal, and how we always get new players — and obviously there’s pros and cons — but one of the pros is I get to meet new players and make new friends, and then as they leave here, I get to go cheer other people on,” Falslev explained.
“We’ve got a great group of guys here now — on and off the court — guys that I want to be around, and guys that are going to hold each other accountable.”
Of course, one of those newcomers is also a familiar face to Falslev. Freshman guard Jax Allen is the younger brother of Drake Allen, USU’s primary point guard over the past two seasons. While the elder Allen prepped at Westlake High before going on to play at Snow College, Southern Utah, Utah Valley and Utah State, Jax Allen was a standout at Orem High before graduating in 2025.
“I love Jax, man,” Falslev said with a big grin. “Jax is a stud, I’m super excited to have him here.”
Nicknamed “The Mayor,” the affable Falslev heads into his final collegiate season and Utah State’s first year as a member of the Pac-12 with a shot at reaching rarefied air in the history of Aggie basketball. Only all-time scoring leader Jaycee Carroll (2,522 points), current Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill (2,197), longtime record holder Greg Grant (2,127) and the legendary Wayne Estes (2,001) have ever eclipsed the 2,000-point mark at USU.
Falslev, who scored 576 points last season, currently sits at 1,469 points scored in his career.
And Jacobson really hopes to get Falslev over that threshold as soon as possible. Falslev, who has primarily played at the shooting guard or wing positions during his college career, spent a lot more time bringing the ball up the court during USU’s summer practices than in previous years.
“Coach has been really good with player development this year with me,” Falslev said. “We watched a lot of film, looked at the numbers and saw where I can improve my game, and the things that I need to do in order to hopefully have a good pro career.
“And one of them is being more of a combo guard, not just sitting on the wing, but being able to bring the ball up and play out of pick and roll, shoot 3s and make people respect my 3-point shot even more than they do right now.”
Falslev, who did most of his damage in the lane last year, shot a very good 39% from beyond the arc, but he only attempted 123 3-point shots — just a half-dozen more than backup guard Kolby King. Part of that was due to the strong offensive season by USU’s leading scorer MJ Collins Jr., who finished 82 of 227 from 3-point range on his way to averaging 17.5 points per game, but Jacobson knows he’ll need more offense out of Falslev with Collins out the door.
“We’ve talked about in terms of his game and some places where he can maybe add to it, ball handling being one of them,” Jacobson said of Falslev.
“He and I have talked about improving his ball handling so that he can get to what has been one of the best parts of his game offensively, and that’s getting past people and getting into the lane and shooting that little push shot. That little kind of runner floater that he shoots. And that’s going to be a big part of our thought process offensively, is how do we get him into those spots?”
Jacobson said he was impressed with how Calhoun and his staff got Falslev into those areas of opportunity last season, and he said he believes that having his senior guard handle the ball more could help him get into those spots more often in 2026-27.
But Jacobson also noted he was “curious” why Falslev didn’t shoot more 3-point shots during his POY junior season.
“Just looking at his numbers, his percentage is good. And if you’ve got a good percentage from the 3-point line, you know now you start talking the efficiency of offense,” Jacobson said. “You know the type of shot that you’re looking for. You know you’re shooting around 40% from the 3-point line. You want to shoot as many of those as you can, and he didn’t. You know his attempts weren’t real high, so we talked about that, and we’ve worked on the mechanics of that.
“Not the mechanics in terms of his shot,” Jacobson added, “but the footwork, and then getting it off a little bit quicker. I wanted that to be his mentality this summer. I wanted him to shoot some shots that maybe normally you would just try to get the guy to get close to you, so you could drive by him.”
The Aggies, who will open the 2026-27 season with five straight home games beginning on Nov. 2 against Idaho State, could surely use an even more improved Falslev this year with so many question marks across the rest of the roster.
But while Jacobson reemphasized his desire for Falslev to handle the ball more and shoot more 3-pointers — “Catch it and shoot it, and force people to come and get you and chase you around a little bit more” — he also made it clear that he was simply trying to refine Falslev’s game.
“I don’t want Mason to change who he is as a player,” Jacobson proclaimed. “He puts so much pressure on the other team. You’ve seen it. He has a great ability to get past people, get in the lane, shoot the floater and draw help.”
