Utah State Basketball beats Utah Tech to go 9-0 this season – Deseret News

LOGAN – Utah State maintained its perfect record despite a less-than-perfect performance Saturday night against an undermanned and undermanned Utah Tech squad.

“You can’t take winning for granted,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said after the Aggies’ 92-62 win over the Trailblazers at the Spectrum.

“Boise (State) and Wyoming also played these guys and they had trouble with them early in the game because of their cutting ability and their ability to drive the ball. That’s why I’m proud of our guys’ performance, but we have a lot to clean up.”

With the win, Utah State (9-0) tied the record for the best start in school history, matching the accomplishments of the 1917-18 and 2022-23 teams.

Calhoun also surpassed Ladell Anderson’s record for the best start ever by a first-year USU coach and improved Anderson’s 8-0 mark to open the 1961-62 season.

“I think that’s a testament to our group,” Calhoun said. “We have the mentality that we are above me, so it’s not about me. This isn’t Jerrod Calhoun’s team, but it shows that when you get a group of guys together with a common goal, you can win games. … But it’s a huge accomplishment for this group because it’s a storied program.

“This is one of the best programs in the West and the country, so it’s spectacular to be a part of it. It’s a special place – I’ve been saying that since I’ve been here – and we’re just getting started.”

One of nine undefeated teams in the country, Utah State shot 49.2% from the field against the Trailblazers (2-9), but finished just 8-for-29 from 3-point range and committed 14 turnovers – nine of them in the first half.

The Aggies led by as many as 17 points in the first half, took a 42-28 lead into the locker room at halftime and were ahead by as many as 26 points midway through the second half before Utah Tech went on a 9-0 run.

That outburst led to Calhoun calling a timeout with 5:55 left and his team leading 74-57, and Utah State responded with a 9-0 run of its own that relaxed the 8,270 crowd a little.

“We looked around a few times,” Calhoun said of the difficult stretch before taking a timeout, “but there was just no sense of urgency.” You only get so many of these games and you can’t take things for granted regard.”

Sophomore forward Karson Templin played a big role in the Aggies’ run with nine unanswered points, including a block, a steal and two slam dunks.

A pair of free throws and a 3-pointer from graduate guard Dexter Akanno also quickly helped Utah State right the ship after missing four straight shots.

In the end, Akanno led the home team with 16 points, while Templin scored 10 points in 15 minutes. Graduate guard Ian Martinez (13 points), forward Aubin Gateretse (12 points) and graduate guard Drake Allen (12 points, seven rebounds) also scored in double figures.

Sophomore guard Mason Falslev (nine points, nine rebounds) barely managed a double-double.

“I think I’ve underperformed dramatically the last few games,” said Allen, who equaled his season high in points scored and set a new season high in assists against Utah Tech.

“The coaches had a meeting with me and kind of challenged me to get back to where I really am and that means things are going downhill and I have to make plays. I didn’t shy away from it, but I didn’t do as much as I should, so it was a challenge.”

The Trailblazers played Saturday’s game without the services of top scorer Beon Riley (13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds per game). But Calhoun, who faced Utah Tech at Youngstown State last season, said that may have actually hurt the Aggies because without the 6-foot-10 senior, the Blazers would have had a smaller, faster lineup with even more cuts and drives have to compete, which helped them negate USU’s size advantage.

“It was a strange game,” Calhoun noted. “…They’re putting another guard where I like to see some big ones because we don’t have to chase them as much.”

Utah Tech, which fell to 0-7 on the road with the loss this season, hit just under 48.3% of its shots in the second half after knocking down just 34.4% of its attempts in the first half. But the Trailblazers outscored the ball by a 47-29 margin, knocking down just 8 of 31 3-point shots.

Senior guard Justin Bieker (14 points, four 3-pointers) was the only Utah Tech player to score in double figures, but it was a memorable return to the Spectrum for Dallin Grant.

The Cedar High product, who redshirted for the Aggies during Danny Sprinkle’s only season in Logan last season, checked in for the Trailblazers midway through the second half and quickly hit a short jumper in the lane and a 3-pointer in the Way to score five points and grab two rebounds in 10 minutes.

It was also a return to Cache Valley for Utah Tech head coach Jon Judkins, a Utah State University graduate who recorded the first triple-double in school history for the Aggies during the 1987-88 season.

“We did some really good things in the first half, and then the first four minutes of the second half were a disaster,” Judkins said, noting USU’s 9-2 spurt after halftime. “They go on a run and now they’re back at 20. … It’s just our turnovers on our press offense. The guards were just playing too much catch in the backfield instead of looking up because we had some 20- to 25-foot passes over the top of guys and we just didn’t see them.

“They’re a good team,” Judkins said of Utah State. “They played extremely hard and went long, but we got them out of their zone – that’s one thing I was really happy with. In that matchup zone, we hurt them with a few backs and they came out there and played man-to-man.”