Aggies spear Tritons 120-82 for fourth straight blowout win

Everything went right for Utah State Men’s Basketball on Friday night as they took down UC San Diego 120-82 for their fourth win of the young season. It was the prongs of the three-ball that drowned the Tritons in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, as USU connected on a program-record-tying 21 threes in the game.

“I knew it was a matter of time,” senior guard Mason Falslev said on the offensive outburst. “Especially those guys who are shooting it well right now, they’re in here every day, and we’re just working on our craft, trying to get better…Great players, and just stepped up to the plate and made some big-time shots.”

The barrage started right from the jump, as Falslev opened the game with a triple just 12 seconds after the Aggies won the opening tip, starting what would be three straight possessions with a made three to open the game for USU.

Falslev finished the win with a team-high 12 rebounds and 33 points on 12-16 shooting, a new career-high in points for the senior guard.

“It’s just been a lot of fun this year. And we’re such a connected team that loves to pass the ball, and that’s why it looks so effortless,” Falslev said. “We’re just spacing it and moving it and having a lot of fun.”

The Tritons fought back with a couple buckets of their own to trail 6-5, but the Aggies quickly started to impose their will, ripping off a 16-0 run to make it 22-5 just under four minutes into the game.

USU mounted additional runs of seven and ten unanswered points in the first half before finishing on a 15-3 run over the final 4:45. The Aggies ultimately connected on 15 of 21 three-point attempts and shot 71% from the floor to take a 73-34 lead into the break.

15 made threes and 73 points are both program records for a single half for Utah State basketball. Additionally, 73 points matches the game total from the Aggies’ 75-73 loss to UC San Diego in December of 2024.

“That was quite a half of basketball, and really fun to be a part of,” head coach Ben Jacobson said. “Fun to stand there and watch your guys run up and down and play at that high of a level.”

The Aggies’ proficiency from beyond the arc was largely attributable to their attack against the Tritons’ 2-3 zone defense. The zone scheme allowed USU to push the ball into the paint, either off the dribble or via an entry pass, and then pass the ball out to shooters once the defense collapsed to the middle.

“We spent a lot of time talking about the best way to attack it, and I give our guys a lot of credit because we’re on a relatively short prep with just two days in between,” Jacobson said on the zone defense. “They put in a lot of time. Our guys are in the gym all the time, and that’s what happened in the first half is really a direct result of the amount of time that they put in during the course of the day.”

UC San Diego made an adjustment after halftime, switching to a man-to-man defense. It was too little, too late, however, as the Aggies cruised to the win to stay undefeated at 4-0.

“That’s what you’re preparing for is to try to figure out how do you get to them. How do you force them to do some things that they may not want to be doing,” Jacobson said. “When things like that happen during the course of the game, they certainly feel better when you’re on the side of it we were on in that first half.”

The Tritons came into the Spectrum on Friday as USU’s toughest opponent so far this season, entering the matchup ranked 91^st in the country, according to kenpom.com. Despite the tougher competition, the 38-point margin of victory is the biggest win for USU of its four opponents.

Falslev and his career night helped push the Aggies to another big win, though five other Aggies found themselves in double digits, with Solomon Callaghan adding 22, Karson Templin with 16, Dallin Hall with 15, Will Hornseth with 12 and AJ Bates with 10.

“When you put in that kind of time, there has to come a there has to come a moment for you as a player that you truly believe that that amount of work matters, and we are seeing that,” Jacobson said.

Utah State will have one more game at home on Wednesday night against Weber State, the end to its five straight home games to open the season, before heading to Southern California for the Acrisure Series. The Aggies will get two top-75 opponents in USC and SMU, two difficult games but opponents that could help build their resume for March.

“I think it’s all up to what we want to do,” Falslev said. “We’ve got to clean up our defense and get better in that way, but I think whatever we want to do this year, we’re capable of doing as long as we do it together.”