MBB Game Notebook: Defense And Rebounding Carry Aggies Past UTEP

Notes, quotes, thoughts and other quick hitters from Utah State's 75-51 win over UTEP. Let's not waste any time.

Game-Changing Moment

The beauty of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum is, and has always been, its sincerity. There is quite literally no room in that building for anything but the truth. When Utah State plays well, the enthusiasm of its home crowd fills the venue, bouncing off the low ceiling and forcing itself into every bit of open space. When Utah State plays poorly, it takes on a wildly uncomfortable eeriness, like the structure is attempting to remove itself from basketball that doesn't meet its lofty standards. If you've ever seen the Aggies struggle in that building, you've felt that dreadful murmur – not quite silence, but in many ways far worse.

With a little over four minutes to play in the first half of Utah State's 75-51 victory over UTEP on Saturday afternoon, second-year coach Jerrod Calhoun felt it too. He and the Spectrum have come to an understanding during their time together, as many coaches have over the years, and he's keenly aware of both the value it provides his Aggies and of what it asks in return. A four-point lead, built tenuously around a series of layups and free throws, was not up to par, especially after Wednesday night's precarious victory over Weber State. The Spectrum bayed for atonement.

So, after a UTEP three-pointer set the difference at 21-17 and an Elijah Perryman turnover sent the first half into its final TV timeout, Calhoun let slip the dogs of war. Utah State emerged from the break in its diamond press, a full-court assault headed by MJ Collins, backed by Garry Clark, and split from midcourt to the free-throw line by Mason Falslev, Kolby King and Perryman. If it was a turnover game UTEP wanted, it was a turnover game UTEP would receive.

Collins, responsible for the inbound, stood with his back nearly parallel to the basket, funneling UTEP's first pass toward the corner of the floor. The Miners happily took the bait and left Cassius Brooks to suffer the consequences as Collins and Perryman descended on him like pincers. He took one hard dribble back toward the baseline, contorted against the pressure and launched a pass directly into Perryman's outstretched right arm. Collins recovered the loose ball and stepped immediately into an uncontested layup.

UTEP's second trip into the teeth of a newly energized Aggie defense went no better than the first. The Miners again passed into a trap in the near corner and couldn't even manage a pass attempt this time, giving the ball right back to Utah State with a KJ Thomas travel. The Aggies dialed up an inbound pass to Clark, who was fouled almost immediately, and added two more points to their total at the line.

The third try for UTEP did last longer, at least, though it still met the same end. Five passes got the Miners past the midcourt line and into something resembling their standard half-court offense, albeit a version that categorically refused to draw closer than roughly 30 feet to the basket. When Tyreese Watson finally plunged into the paint with the shot clock ticking under 10 seconds, Falslev and King converged on him, forcing a bounce pass just begging to be deflected. Collins did the honors, Clark collected the ball and handed it to Perryman, who started the break in earnest. After a few passes, the freshman guard paid his big man back with a pocket pass for a layup.

Joe Golding let his group give it one more go before taking a timeout, but the fourth and final try was effectively doomed from the start. UTEP's confidence in its ability to successfully handle the basketball was shattered, and it was only a matter of time until it would come to a player who couldn't withstand the pressure. That unfortunate soul in this instance was David Tubek, a junior forward who did not ask for this and simply found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Watson's pass hit him on the hands and deflected harmlessly out of bounds, landing at Calhoun's feet.

"I'm a lot like the fans, I got very impatient," Calhoun said. "You could just feel it in the building, there was an uncomfortable feeling. It was just ugly basketball. Neither team could put the ball in the basket. I called a timeout and just said, 'We're pressing. I'm not watching this anymore. We need our defense to spark us.' So, we went to a diamond press and I think we got up 14, saw the ball go in a little bit before the half and ended up with whatever we had at the half, 34. We were on pace for one of the lowest-scoring games I've ever seen. That kind of jumpstarted us and then we really played pretty well in the second half."

Though Utah State wouldn't call off its full-court press for another minute or so, its job of setting the wheels in motion was already complete. The Aggies returned from a 30-second timeout and drained nearly the entire shot clock before Perryman found Falslev standing uncovered beyond the three-point line for an easy triple. UTEP's attempt at a rebuttal went begging and landed with Clark, then Falslev, then Collins well down the floor for a transition layup. King and Perryman each added one point at the stripe, and Utah State took a far more convincing 34-20 edge into the break.

"We started out kind of slowly on offense," Clark said. "We've been priding ourselves on defense in the last couple of days at practice. After our last game, coach really got in to us and defense has been our main focus. It was a defensive battle.

"In the timeout, coach said we would try to speed them up as much as we can. We had been sitting back. It worked. We got a couple of stops and it created momentum for us moving forward."

When It Was Over

Utah State was never truly challenged in the second half, but did spend much of the frame in a holding pattern. The Aggies pushed into a 15-point lead, 35-20, with a Clark free throw on their first possession of the period, and held that same 15-point margin more than 12 minutes later when Watson converted one of his tries at the stripe.

Between those trips to the line, there was no real distinction between the two sides. Utah State's edge grew to 16 points on several occasions and shrunk to 12 on others, dipping once to 11 but never further. The quickest way to put a game away is through three-pointers, fast breaks, or some combination of the two, and Utah State couldn't really find either with consistency. UTEP's foul-heavy approach kept the Aggies out of top speed and Utah State's shooting slump extended from two games to three, preventing any real opportunity to separate. In Calhoun's view, this period of difficulty from the field will help these Aggies eventually, but it's certainly not helping them right now.

"You have Mason and Tuck, who are overthinking it (from three)," Calhoun said. "Zach Keller was frustrated tonight. I think it's good. I like when kids struggle, I think it's good. As a parent, and I've learned this through coaching, my daughter will come home and you get the poor-me's in the car. I like when she loses, to be honest with you. I don't want to tell her coach that, but I think sometimes when you don't play well and you have to overcome some things, it makes you good. It makes you a better person. Life won't be easy all the time. Right now, it's not easy for us. The ball is just not going in. How do you make it go in? You have to work. You have to persevere, get back to the drawing board, look at why you're missing and just keep working. I feel like our guys will be fine."

What did help them on this occasion was, as in the first half, the ability to turn defense into offense, starting with a little more than seven minutes left on the clock and a 53-38 difference on the scoreboard. Watson drove into the paint looking to cut further into that Aggie lead and met Clark, who went straight up to defend against what looked to be an overly aggressive layup try. Watson apparently came to the same conclusion, because he changed course midstream and tried to drop the ball off to a cutting Jamal West. The pass was far too high and ended in a tie-up with the possession arrow pointing in Utah State's direction.

Perryman drew a foul at the other end, knocked down both tries at the line, and the Aggies were off. UTEP missed a three-pointer well short on its ensuing possession, survived two Falslev free throws unscathed, and gave the ball away again in response – this time thanks to quick hands from Karson Templin, who collapsed into the paint as an off-ball helper and knocked a Kaseem Watson pass away from West. Perryman gave a good deal of thought to a transition three-pointer before yielding to the disembodied voice of his coach, firmly embedded in his brain after a Friday practice spent running, hitting and generally suffering for Wednesday's effort.

"I think our communication got better in the last two days," Calhoun said. "I think our players took a little more ownership of the situation. Stew Morrill was in here Friday and he loved our practice. We were all over these guys. They ran steps, they hit pads and they rebounded. We only went an hour, but it was a very demanding practice. Coach Morrill said, 'You do that times two more hours and that was my practice every day.'

"I think we got a lot out of that day, and we came in yesterday pretty focused. When you know what you're doing and you know how to accomplish something and you prepare the right way, you'll have good results whether you make threes or not. We knew about halfway through the game that our guys were pretty determined to win this game, just by their defense and rebounding. Sometimes, you have to win like that."

His decision was rewarded, as Utah State set up its offense, worked the ball to Templin on the perimeter and added two more points on a well-executed drive and right-handed finish from the junior. Templin again made an impact at the other end, this time simply grabbing a pass toward Caleb Blackwell out of the air and starting another break, which ended almost immediately with a foul and two free throws. Not to be outdone by his frontcourt battery mate, Clark got back in on the fun to cap UTEP's next offensive possession, swiping the ball from Elijah Jones as an off-ball defender and pushing it ahead to Templin, who finished at the rim through contact. As the five-minute mark came and went, Utah State's perpetual 15-point lead was up to 23, 61-38, with room still to grow.

"I love playing out there at the same time (as Karson)," Clark said. "He helps me a lot. He has the same type of energy I have. He attacks the rim, he's aggressive for rebounds and he works hard on defense. It's fun playing with him."

And grow it did, all the way to 29 points, before settling at the final 24-point margin as UTEP picked up some garbage time baskets as consolation for what had been a truly miserable afternoon against the Aggie defense. It was the guard pairing, King and Perryman, that gave Utah State its final boost. King snapped an extended three-point drought about a minute after checking into the game; Perryman nabbed a steal and converted it into a fast break dunk; King knocked down another three; Perryman added three points the hard way with a layup and a free throw; King hit one more from beyond the arc for good measure, and eventually did the honors of dribbling out the clock on a comfortable Aggie win.

Utah State's offense still isn't where it would like to be, converting 23 of 48 tries from the field (47.9 percent) and just 6 of 23 from beyond the arc (26.1 percent) while committing 17 turnovers. The shooting slump is understood to be in progress at this point, and the turnover number is too high, though not terribly surprising with Drake Allen sidelined and a freshman in Perryman in his place, supported off the bench by Jordy Barnes. Those two combined for six giveaways, most of them coming early, but won't need to carry that load for much longer. Allen may not be at full strength, but he's expected to return to the lineup for Utah State's next outing.

"We knew it would be a tough game for (Elijah)," Calhoun said. "I thought he responded really well. He's not scared of the bright lights. He's a kid who has extreme confidence. I wish he would have had a few less turnovers, but I thought he and Jordy did a nice job running the team. That's a hard team to play against. They just pressure you. It's a tough matchup, but I thought they both did really well."

"I think Drake will go Friday. His body is unbelievable, the amount of pain that kid can endure. Last year was just brutal for him. My heart goes out to him. I think he's the one returning guy who has really consistently led. There have been moments where KT and Mason try to lead, but it's nowhere near what Drake Allen does. Drake Allen's voice is heard every day, and that's what stinks about him missing today. But, I feel really good. Brett had him in the underwater treadmill the other day over in the football complex. I think he's going in there again tonight. He'll have himself ready. His voice was heard again tonight. It's not about just when you're playing that you're leading. There were a lot of moments today when he was talking to Elijah in timeouts. That's a good sign."

Despite the offensive trouble, there was a clear difference in the post-game mood between Wednesday's game and Saturday's. Part of that is the margin on the scoreboard, of course, but a larger part was intent. The Aggies did not intend to grind out that win over Weber State. They were thrust into it by the Wildcats, forced to play a style they weren't prepared for.

Ideally, they wouldn't have needed to grind this one out either, but they were ready this time. Utah State knew it would struggle at times with UTEP's turnover-centric defense, especially with a freshman point guard at the commands, and knew it may have to win with defense and rebounding. When it became apparent that the lid would not be coming off the rim, the Aggies got to work. They held the Miners to 19-of-51 shooting (and 13 of 42, or 30.9 percent, before garbage time), forced 16 turnovers that became 26 points, and dominated the rebounding battle by 17, 41-24. Calhoun challenged his group to embrace the struggle and improve through it, and against a tricky opponent, that's precisely what they did.

"I'm really proud of our guys," Calhoun said. "I thought we had our antennae up on the toughness that we needed to bring today and we talked about that, rebounding the ball and playing physically. That's a team that tries to turn you over and they did. We had to make up for some of our mistakes by just outplaying them. We couldn't make a shot again and still got 75. I'm really proud of our guys' response from the other day. I really am. I think we're in a good place.

"I thought it was the best defensive performance we've had since we got here. I think our guys are tired of hearing that we can't guard and that we're not tough enough. That's not to say you guys are writing those articles, but we've been on them since the summer. We want to become a top-50, top-60 defense in the country and that starts with guarding the ball and guarding the paint. We did a little better job of not fouling. I wish we would have done a little better on some of those possessions, but it's a step in the right direction."

Aggie Of The Game

No single player on this Utah State team embodied that spirit better against the Miners than Clark. The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer has been one of the best early stories for this Aggie squad, and added another stellar chapter against the Miners.

Logging 32 minutes off the bench, Clark directed Utah State's efforts in the paint all evening. He put up game highs with 20 points and 13 rebounds, his third double-double in four outings, while adding three assists and three steals. Much of his work offensively came at the free-throw line, where he connected on 10 of 16 tries, but he was nearly perfect from the field when not fouled (5 for 6) and did a terrific job of avoiding foul trouble of his own at the other end. After fouling out against Weber State, Clark limited himself to just two personal fouls this time around. Even as the Aggies shifted their offense to run through him, Clark looked completely at ease with his responsibilities, slipping up only thrice with turnovers, two of which came on borderline traveling violations early in the game.

"Garry just has a tremendous work ethic," Calhoun said. "He'll be a fan favorite this year because he just does what he can do. He doesn't play outside of his game. He's just a wonderful kid. He plays hard, he's a good teammate, and he has a good set of hands, he can snatch rebounds and catch balls. I think he'll get better and better, and is just scratching the surface. His motor is really good. He plays hard all the time and he just does what we ask him, he doesn't do things he can't do, and I thought he was awesome.

"It's early. But at this point, we'll have to play through (Garry). When you don't make threes and you don't make shots, you have to throw the ball inside. That's typically not what we do, but as a coach you have to adapt and adjust. Right now, nobody can guard him in there, so he'll continue to get the ball."

Maintaining this spectacular pace he's opened the year with is still likely an unreasonable ask of the big man from Texas, but his status as a legitimate go-to player for Utah State is rapidly ossifying, and he's still not doing anything beyond his established skill set. This is what Clark did, pretty much every night, for the last two seasons at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

He appeared in 67 games for the Islanders and recorded 18 double-doubles while coming up one rebound or bucket short of nine more. By KenPom's Player of the Year metric, he was the best the Southland Conference had to offer in 2024-25 – better than current NC State starter Quadir Copeland (McNeese), McNeese star Javohn Garcia, UNLV starter Howie Fleming (UTRGV), Memphis starter Sincere Parker (McNeese), Baylor contributor Isaac Williams (Texas A&M-CC), and everyone else in the talented league. Utah State signed him to do that same job in Logan, and so far, that's the job he's done.

"Coach started running sets for me," Clark said. "He saw mismatches at times so he got me in the position to get fouls and get to the rim. It worked out.

"I just try to be involved as much as I can when I'm out there, to be around the rim as much as possible and to create advantages for our team. Offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, it's just knowing my role and doing it… Our guys can shoot. They'll fall, and if they aren't falling, I'll rebound it for them. I have faith in them. They'll eventually start falling."

Lineup Notes

It comes as no big shock that Utah State's most productive lineup was the group responsible for the big run in the first half: Perryman/King/Falslev/Collins/Clark. Though logged only two minutes and played only six possessions, they gave Utah State a 12-2 edge during their time on the floor, bolstered by an absurd 68.0 percent turnover rate.

Utah State's next-leading lineup is a bit more surprising, though it made only one change to the previous grouping, swapping Falslev out for Tucker Anderson. In three minutes, that bunch held a 7-0 advantage.

The leading lineup for minutes, recording eight in total, was also one of Utah State's best groupings on the scoreboard. That would be Perryman, Falslev, Collins, Clark and Templin, which was plus-five (15-10) despite shooting just 44.4 percent from the field, thanks to a combination of stout defense (37.5 percent effective field goal percentage, 18.4 percent turnover rate) and free-throw shooting (111.1 percent free throw rate).

Clark and Perryman comprised Utah State's best two-man pairing, logging 23 minutes together and recording a plus-32 margin in that span, 58-26. When those two were on the floor, the Aggies were in the 90th percentile or better for offensive (64.7 percent, 96th percentile) and defensive (35.5 percent, 99th) effective field goal percentage, offensive rebounding rate (50.0 percent, 99th), defensive turnover rate (22.5 percent, 97th) and offensive free throw rate (64.7 percent, 98th), as well as offensive (145.4, 98th) and defensive (65.2, 100th) rating, which is just a different way to say points per 100 possessions.

Much of the same can be said about Utah State's best three-man combination, which just adds Collins into that mix and cuts the total minutes down slightly to 20. The margin on the scoreboard was still massive with that trio, 52-23, and the offense was actually slightly better with a 148.2 rating. The defense took a very small step back to 65.5, but that's hardly noticeable.

Through three games against DI opponents, Utah State's top eight two-player combinations include either Clark or Perryman, with those two leading the way overall at plus-57 in 47 minutes of action. The next three pair Clark with Collins (+52, 58 minutes), King (+44, 40 minutes) and Falslev (+40, 52 minutes), trailed by Perryman/Collins (+28, 54 minutes), Perryman/King (+28, 32 minutes), Clark/Keller (+27, 26 minutes) and Perryman/Falslev (+26, 47 minutes).

On This Day

Nov. 15, 2019 - Utah State 81, North Carolina A&T 54

From Jeff Hunter, Deseret News:

LOGAN – Since they play essentially the same position, Utah State forward Justin Bean and Alphonso Anderson normally spend more time battling against each other in practice than playing alongside one another in games.

But when pushed by the North Carolina A&T Aggies Friday night at the Spectrum, the Utah State Aggies found that Anderson and Bean make for a great combination in crunch time.

“I love when we’re on the court together… When we get on the court, I feel like we just click,” Anderson said of playing alongside Bean following No. 17 Utah State’s 81-54 victory over NCAT.

“It’s kind of crazy because we don’t get a lot of reps together, but I love playing with him. He works hard, I work hard. It brings a different dynamic because a lot of teams can’t really guard it.”

A transfer from North Idaho Junior College, Anderson went 6 of 9 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line on his way to a career-high 21 points, while Bean finished 8 of 12 from the field for 18 points. Bean and Anderson also added 10 and six rebounds, respectively.

The Aggies (4-0) shot 55.8 percent as a team and outrebounded the North Carolina Aggies by a 44-28 margin, but an 18-for-30 performance from the free-throw line and 15 turnovers helped North Carolina A&T (1-3) hang around much longer than most of the 8,864 fans at the Spectrum assumed.

Utah State led 38-23 at halftime, but NCAT managed to trim that 15-point deficit down to just six points with 14:03 to go. But spurred by Bean’s trademark energy and Anderson’s savvy play in the post, the Aggies steadied the ship and USU outscored their guests 39-18 over the last 14 minutes.

“This was a game that went how I felt it could go,” USU head coach Craig Smith said. “They have a way of making the game get ugly and do a lot of different things, and you’ve got to give them credit. I thought they played well and made some shots. 

“Coming into the game, they were averaging three made 3’s a game, shooting 22 percent, and to their credit, they go 7-for-20. They made almost as many 3’s tonight as they have all year. They made some plays; they made some tough shots, too.”

Anderson was the fourth different leading scorer for Utah State in its first four games. Senior guard Sam Merrill finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists, while sophomore guard Brock Miller had three 3-pointers and 11 points.

“At the end of the day, I thought we did some really good things,” Smith said. “We’re obviously 4-0, and in four different games we’ve had four different leading scorers, so that’s a positive thing to have some balance that way.”

Emptying The Notebook

It's another 4-0 start for Utah State, the 32nd in school history and the second under Calhoun. The Aggies have started 4-0 eight times since the 2013-14 season, and will be looking to make it 5-0 for the sixth time since 2018-19 when they take the floor next.

With this win, Utah State improved to 2-4 against UTEP and 56-42 against members of Conference USA. The Aggies won't play another CUSA team this season unless it comes in the postseason, though they do have four former CUSA members still on the schedule in Charlotte, Memphis, South Florida and Tulane (all of which are now in the American).

Utah State is still perfect in November under Calhoun, moving to 11-0 with this victory. Also under his direction, the Aggies are 21-3 when leading at the half, 25-2 when outshooting their opponent from the field and 21-1 when winning the rebounding battle.

Clark is the first Utah State player to log three double-doubles in his first four games of a season since Bean in 2021-22. Bean opened that campaign with seven double-doubles in eight tries, so Clark still has some ground to cover if he wants to match the three-time all-MWC honoree.

Up next for Utah State, after a bit of a break, is a Nov. 21 bout with Tulane in the first round of the Charleston Classic. The Green Wave will enter that game with a 3-1 record under seventh-year head coach Ron Hunter, having beaten Louisiana (66-62), Samford (85-72) and Texas State (79-71) while falling to New Orleans (85-63).

That will be the fourth meeting between Utah State and Tulane and the first since a trio of matchups in the early 1970s. The Aggies won the first such game on the road in 1971, 103-81, lost to Tulane on the road in 1973 (91-80) and avenged that game in Logan a year later with a 105-86 beatdown.