Utah State more than doubles up Westminster in season-opening win

The Utah State Aggies opened the 2025-26 season Monday night by playing the Westminster Griffins, as well as the 2024-25 version of themselves.

Utah State crushed the Division II Griffins, 110-54, at the Spectrum in Logan, coming up just short of matching last year’s 117-53 dismantling of Westminster on Stew Morrill Court.

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However, the new-look Aggies did rack up 19 3-pointers — two more than last year — while coming up with eight more rebounds than last November.

And Vanderbilt transfer guard MJ Collins Jr. scored a game-high 23 points in his Aggie debut, just one fewer than last year’s leading scorer Ian Martinez had against the Griffins.

“It was amazing just being able to feel like myself again,” said Collins, who set a new career-high in points by going 9 for 11 from the field and 5 for 7 from 3-point range. “First, I just want to thank God, of course, my family, my teammates, and most importantly, my coaches for all believing in me and allowing me to go out there and just be a player.

“… I’ve always been able to shoot the ball, but my confidence was up and down, but coach (Jerrod) Calhoun and my teammates always keep me uplifted and keep confidence in me and it’s fun to go out there and play hard for those type of people when they really believe in you.”

Utah State (1-0) also got 16 points from Butler transfer guard Kolby King and a double-double from fifth-year senior forward Garry Clark (12 points, 11 rebounds).

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Freshman wing Allan Elamin scored 12 points, while freshman guard Elijah Perryman finished with 10 points and eight assists.

That means USU’s five leading scorers are all newcomers to a program that won 26 games and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Returnees Mason Falslev and Tucker Anderson each contributed nine points, and junior forward Karson Templin ended up with eight points.

As a team, Utah State shot 60.9% from the field, finished 19 for 37 from 3-point range and totaled 32 assists against 12 turnovers. The Aggies also came up with 13 steals and compiled 38 fast-break points vs. the Griffins’ zero.

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“We want to be on the attack for 40 minutes,” Calhoun said after the first game of his second season as the head coach at Utah State.

“I’ve told this group that if they value the ball, they could be one of the best offensive teams in the country, and you saw that they really like playing with each other. They’re very unselfish, and we’ve got a lot of guys that can put the ball in the basket.”

The Aggies took control of the contest with a 17-2 run midway through the first half that put the home team up 41-15 with just over six minutes left before intermission.

Utah State, which led 53-27 at halftime, did most of its damage from beyond the arc, knocking down 9 of its first 14 3-point attempts and finishing with 11 treys in the first half.

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But early in the second half, Utah State turned up the defensive pressure, coming up with steal after steal while pressing, which led to easy baskets in transition.

In the first five minutes of the second half, the Aggies made nine of their first 10 shots (on seven assists) while scoring 19 of the first 21 points coming out of halftime.

“It’s fun; we’re all happy for one another,” Collins said of that decisive stretch. “Everybody’s happy for each other’s success, and that’s what makes our team so good.

“This is the most connected team I’ve been on, and that makes it fun to go out there and play for each other. We don’t really care who gets the success at the end of the day because we know it’s a team sport.”

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Westminster ended up shooting just 33.3% as a team, while going 5 for 18 from 3-point range. Junior guard Collin Hayes led the Griffins with 12 points, while graduate forward Michael Frazier totaled 11 points and six rebounds.

“I’m glad we don’t have to play them again,” Westminster head coach Norm Parrish said. “Defensively, they do different things than we’ll ever see. Especially in the second half, we didn’t handle their pressure, and they speed you up.”