Aggies take home win at Salt Lake Slam
The Utah State Men’s Basketball traveled down to Salt Lake City to face the Illinois State Redbirds in the Salt Lake Slam at the Delta Center on Dec. 13. After a week of preparation, the Aggies came out on top of the Redbirds with an 83-78 win.
The win was the Aggies’ second in a row, highlighted by a 20-point performance by senior guard MJ Collins Jr., as well as an 18-point performance from fifth-year senior Garry Clark. The Aggies capitalized on their defense, scoring 26 points off turnovers to help lift them to the win. Additionally, the Aggies’ 19 offensive rebounds were the most by the team since 2020.
Senior forward Zach Keller made his first start for the Aggies. He finished the night with 9 points and 4 rebounds. His 15 minutes played were also tied for the second most of the season.
“I made the decision to start Zach Keller about three days ago. He’s a kid who has zero confidence. I don’t know if anybody’s ever given it to him or what the case is with him, but I was going to give it to him tonight,” said head coach Jerrod Calhoun. “I really believe in him, and I think the more we empower him and the more responsibility we give him, he’s going to get better and better. Hopefully, this was a breakout game for Zach.”
To begin the game, neither team jumped out to a commanding lead, but the Aggies found themselves up 13-6 eight minutes into the game. This lead was quickly erased by the Redbirds, who began a 13 -4 scoring run to take the lead 19-17. Following a timeout, the Aggies came out with an explosive offense, pulling ahead by 10 points to give the Aggies the largest lead of the half.
Clark had a high efficiency start to the afternoon, shooting 100% from the field for 6 points. He also reined in 5 rebounds in only five minutes on the court during the first half.
“I was just doing my part. I’ve been in a little slump, but we’ve been going hard every practice, trying to build every day and continue to get better,” Clark said. “I know my role, and rebounding is part of it. So, I came out and tried to rebound as much as I could, especially on the offensive side.”
The Aggies maintained a commanding lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half. At its peak, the Aggies found themselves up 15 points on the Redbirds. As the second half began to wind down, the Redbirds slowly began to chip away at the lead, trailing by just 3 points with under two minutes to play. Two layups by Mason Falslev and Drake Allen helped close the game and secure the win for the Aggies.
“I thought those were the two winningest plays. We wanted to get those guys downhill and get on the rim because I thought Garry would go clean it up if we missed the shot,” Calhoun said. “Those two want to win. They care about the right things. When you care about the right things, good things will happen to you.”
Despite the win, the Aggies felt they had left much on the table. They will look to prepare better for their next game to improve on the small details.
“We wasted a lot of possessions. If you look at that game, Illinois State’s not a team that forces a lot of turnovers. We’ve got to look at the tape, and we’ve got to figure out our spacing,” Calhoun said. “Usually, when you turn the ball over, you have bad spacing or bad decision-making. We have to improve on that. The sky’s the limit for this team. It’s just the secret is, how do you get them there?”
The Aggies will face off with the Colorado State Rams on Dec. 20 to begin Mountain West Conference play at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.