Men’s basketball: Aggies prepare for the Mountain West tournament
Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 13 to adhere to AP Style guidelines.
Utah State Men’s Basketball ended its 2024-25 regular-season campaign on March 8 with an 87-47 win over Air Force. With the win, the Aggies finished the year with a 25-6 overall record and a 15-5 conference record.
Utah State has now won at least 25 games in five of the last seven years, making the NCAA tournament in four of those seasons with another berth potentially coming soon. If the Aggies advance to the NCAA tournament this season, they will become just the second team in NCAA history to make the tournament three straight seasons with three different non-interim head coaches.
Additionally, 15 conference wins are tied with the 2018-19 and 2020-21 teams for most conference wins in a season. With a historic year now finished for Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun and his Aggies, they now turn their focus to the 2025 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championships and a postseason run.
“We’re not the least bit satisfied with 25 wins and 15-5 in the conference. That’s what the tournament’s about — a chance to compete and hang a banner and win a championship,” Calhoun said after the win over Air Force. “I think it’s going to be a really, really high-level tournament … It’s going to be about how we finish these next two tournaments that all those people there and all of Aggie Nation will remember us. So, we want to leave everything out there.”
Utah State’s 15-5 finish in conference play puts it as the No. 3 seed, marking the third straight year that the Aggies have finished in the top three in the conference. New Mexico claimed the outright regular-season championship, making themselves the top seed in the tournament. Colorado State finished the season with dominant wins over both Utah State and Boise State, the No. 5 seed, to claim the second spot and join the Aggies on the lower side of the bracket.
San Diego State rounds out the teams with a first-round bye, claiming the fourth spot and a second-round matchup with Boise State
Utah State will face the winner of UNLV and Air Force on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. PST, with ESPN Analytics putting UNLV as a heavy favorite.
Series Recaps
In their four combined games this season, the Aggies won both of their matchups against the Falcons and split the series against the Runnin’ Rebels. Prior to their home victory against Air Force, Utah State also defeated the Falcons 87-58 on Jan. 25 in Colorado Springs.
In their first win over the Falcons, the Aggies had four players score in double-digits with 11 of the 12 players that entered the game scoring points. On March 8, Utah State had three players with double digits and 10-point scorers of the 12 that checked in.
In both games, the Aggies methodically picked apart the Falcons, getting points and production from their entire roster. USU imposed their will in both games, dominating Air Force on both ends of the floor and winning the two games by an average margin of 34.5 points.
The matchups against UNLV have been vastly different, with the Aggies posting one win and one loss against the Rebels. In their first matchup on Jan. 15, UNLV left victorious after defeating Utah State 65-62 in Las Vegas. The Aggies struggled mightily in the game, scoring just 62 points, their second-lowest point total of the season.
Just two weeks later, the Aggies avenged themselves with a 76-71 win at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Rebounding proved to be critical in both games, with UNLV outrebounding the Aggies 36-32 in the first matchup with a 13-10 advantage on the offensive glass. In the second game, USU had the advantage 32-26 and controlled the offensive boards 7-5.
Should UNLV advance to play the Aggies, they could be without two of their leading scorers Dedan Thomas Jr. and Julian Rishwain. Thomas averaged 15.6 points per game for the Rebels before getting injured. After Thomas went out, Rishwain took on an additional role for UNLV and averaged 12.2 points per game in Thomas’ absence.
Looking Forward
Utah State has only lost six games all season, but two of those losses came in the final three games of the season against Colorado State and Boise State. Neither game was all that close at the end, with the Aggies getting knocked around in both contests.
Utah State’s offense lulled in each game, as they scored only 65 points against Boise State and 66 points against Colorado State. The most striking difference in the losses compared to previous games was the ball movement and assists – or lack thereof.
Utah State is one of the best assisting teams in the country. They averaged 17.7 assists per game this season, ranking them sixth-best in the nation. Additionally, USU averaged 18.6 assists in the regular season in the 25 games they won.
Against BSU and CSU, the Aggies had just nine and eight assists, respectively, partially leading to their offensive struggles.
This season, Utah State has shown it is capable of beating both the Air Force and UNLV. The biggest leading indicators for the Aggies on Thursday will be the focus on themselves, their rebounding effort and offensive ball movement.
“It’s more about ourselves –cleaning up our offensive things – making sure that we understand how we’re going to attack certain coverages. The ball’s got to continue to move. I thought we did a masterful job against Air Force of moving it – playing in transition,” Calhoun said in his media availability leading up to the tournament. “I think there’s a lot of different teams that can win it, obviously, but you’ve got to worry about yourself first and foremost.”
In addition to assists, Utah State struggled to control the offenses of Boise State and Colorado State. Calhoun is looking to limit the damage by small changes in the Aggies’ matchup zone defense.
“If we can tinker with our zone come tournament time, I think it’s an advantage to us … So, we’re going to continue to make adjustments,” Calhoun said. “That’s going to be the key – that and the physicality I’ve talked about all year long. Our offense is top 16 in the country, so defense will have to help us win this tournament.”
Utah State travelled to Las Vegas on Tuesday to prepare and watch their opponent play on Wednesday. They will then take on the winner Thursday night in the late game on CBS Sports.