Utah State fends off Weber State in 83-73 victory

It was the first meaningful game between longtime rivals Weber State and Utah State in three years.

After the Aggies’ 83-73 victory Wednesday night, USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun seemed to be fine with waiting another decade or so before facing the Wildcats again.

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“I thought we got physically manhandled,” Calhoun declared after the game. “I thought we played very entitled. … It takes a lot to motivate 10 new players, and to get them to understand how good these teams are and how hard winning is. We haven’t went through it yet, but we’ll get better from this.

“But it was painful. Three for 23 (from 3-point range), that’s misery. I don’t know when the last time one of my teams have done that.”

Utah State (3-0) remains unblemished this season, but the Wildcats (1-2) definitely made things tough for the Aggies, who won despite shooting just 3 for 23 from beyond the arc and going the final five-plus minutes of the game without a field goal.

“They’ve got a wonderful team,” Calhoun said of Eric Duft’s squad. “They’ve got pieces that really fit, I like watching them play. When they play basketball, they play the right way. They can shoot the ball, and the thing that other teams in their league are getting ready to find out is that they impose their will like no other on the glass.”

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Led by former Aggie Nigel Burris’ dozen boards, Weber State won the rebounding battle 40 to 38. But 13 turnovers and a shooting percentage of just 38.6% doomed the chances of the Wildcats — who won at the Spectrum, 75-72, on Dec. 19, 2022 — winning in Logan for the second straight time.

Weber State, which was also held without a field goal for the final six and a half minutes, got a game-high 19 points from sophomore guard Trevor Henning, while Burris, who played at USU for Danny Sprinkle in 2023-24, added 15 points. Former Boise State and UNLV guard Jace Whiting ended up with 10 points in his first game in the Spectrum in nearly two years.

“(Utah State) is a good basketball team, and it was a great basketball game. But you’ve got to withstand it,” Duft’s said. “We did that in the first half, but then we just had a couple of defensive breakdowns. The thing that happens when you play these guys, you can’t have live-ball turnovers because then they get in transition. Going against that zone, we had too many of those.

“But to come in here and out-rebound this team by two, I thought our guys competed really hard. We just didn’t hit many shots, especially from three. We have some really good shooters that just missed tonight. Credit to them, they’re a very difficult team to play against, especially early in the season.”

The Aggies, who hosted the Wildcats for an exhibition game last season, were led by junior forward Karson Templin (16 points, five rebounds), senior guard Kolby King (15 points, eight rebounds) and senior forward Garry Clark (13 points, five rebounds).

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But senior guard MJ Collins Jr. and junior guard Mason Falslev had very sub-par games offensively, combining for 17 points while going 6 for 20 from the field and just a 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

“We’re a work in progress; we’re not there yet offensively,” Calhoun noted. “… I thought MJ and Mason really struggled. I mean, I haven’t seen Falslev play like that in the year and a half that I’ve coached him.”

While the Aggies struggled from outside, they were able to score the ball inside the arc, outscoring Weber State 46-28 in the paint while shooting 45.3% from the floor overall. The hosts also went 22 for 29 from the free throw line and committed only six turnovers.

Weber State opened the game with a 3-pointer by Viljami Vartainen just 20 seconds into the game, while the Aggies went 0 for 9 from long-distance in the first half and didn’t record their first trey until Collins finally buried 3-pointer with 17:34 to go in the second half.

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“We usually shoot the ball well; we’re a great shooting team,” King said. “But as you know, teams have nights where the ball just isn’t going in the basket from three, so we had to switch it up a little bit and get inside the paint, feed our bigs, attack the paint and attack switches, and that was the outcome.”

The Cats led by as many as eight points early in the contest, but a 13-4 run by USU midway through the opening half helped right the ship for the home team. But the Aggies’ shooting woes kept Utah State from pulling away by more than six points, and the game was tied a half-dozen times, including 41-41 at intermission.

Even worse for Utah State, with just two seconds left in the first half, point guard Drake Allen turned his left ankle while trying to block a Weber State shot and ended up not playing the remainder of the game, despite trying to warm up before the second half.

“Drake will probably be out for the next game (Saturday vs. UTEP) with a high-ankle sprain,” Calhoun said. “… Drake wanted to go, but (USU trainer) Brett Ritter said there was absolutely no way, and you’ve got to trust your trainer.”

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Elijah Perryman ended up started the second half in Allen’s place, and the freshman put together a solid outing, contributing six points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Perryman also through down a spectacular breakaway dunk with just over eight minutes remaining that put the Aggies up by 14 points and left Falslev and Templin in disbelief on the bench.

“That was a nice one,” King said of Perryman’s slam from the left side of the rim. “He got up on that one. I saw him running on the fast break, then I saw nothing but orange shoes just flying. It was Elijah, so I hit him and he just flew.”

Following another 3-pointer by Henning with 17 minutes left in the game, the Cats trailed just 50-47. But a three-point play by Templin triggered a 14-3 run by the Aggies that King capped with USU’s second 3-pointer of the game about six minutes later.

The Wildcats never got closer than eight points over the final minutes, while both teams did most of their scoring from the free throw line. Weber State went 21 for 28 from the foul line in a game that featured 43 total fouls.

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“It was a grimy game,” King lamented. “It was definitely a defensive game.”

In addition to the return of Burris, former USU head coach Craig Smith was among the 9,124 fans in the stands in support of his son, WSU junior guard Brady Smith. The former Green Canyon High School star, who walked on last year for his father at Utah, didn’t see action in Wednesday’s game.