UNLV Blitzes Aggies Late, Utah State Suffers First Conference Loss
Jan 16, 2025, 12:26 AM | Updated: 11:43 am
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 15: Deyton Albury #13 and Karson Templin #22 of the Utah State Aggies walk of the court after the team's 65-62 loss to the UNLV Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 15, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS- With New Mexico’s loss to the San Jose State Spartans last night, the Utah State Aggies took sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference into Las Vegas to take on UNLV in a late-night marquee matchup.
Utah State and UNLV traded punches throughout the 40-minute battle and neither team was able to build a sizable lead before the other one would mount a run. In the end, it came down to the final possession, but it was untimely misses that doomed the Aggies in the final minutes as UNLV became only the second team to defeat Utah State so far this year.
Final from Las Vegas.#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/NKyR8urZMg
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
First Half
It was a first half of runs and a metaphorical game of tug of war between the Runnin’ Rebels and Aggies for momentum. Throughout the first 20 minutes, it seemed that so soon as one side looked to build a lead, the other would deliver a counter punch to keep the contest even.
Utah State held the edge early, taking a quick 12-6 lead. Tucker Anderson shined in the first few minutes, scoring five of the Aggies’ first nine points and then hitting Karson Templin with a beautiful pass for three points the old-fashioned way.
KT for 3⃣ the hard way@karsontemplin pic.twitter.com/s5PbcqVPJ8
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
However, UNLV snapped back strong, blocking Utah State twice in a handful of possessions as well as forcing a turnover as the Aggies tried to set up their offense, giving UNLV a 13-12 lead with 11:29 remaining, forcing Jerrod Calhoun to call a timeout.
Brooklyn stay coastin' pic.twitter.com/lcSTanJPX6
— UNLV Men's Basketball (@TheRunninRebels) January 16, 2025
Ian Martinez responded out of the timeout, hitting two three-pointers in 90 seconds to regain the lead, and it looked like Coach Calhoun was eager to take control of the game, putting his team in a full-court press following the made basket. Utah State did not press for the entire rest of the half, but for a few minutes, they looked to make UNLV uncomfortable when they inbounded the ball.
With around eight and a half minutes to go in the first half, the Aggies started to face a little bit of foul trouble with both Deyton Albury and Tucker Anderson with two.
Karson Templin extended the Utah State lead to four, banking in a three from the top of the three-point line after receiving a behind-the-back pass from Ian Martinez.
You can't hear it, but he called bank 💰@karsontemplin pic.twitter.com/N7kSxkJ4T3
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
With around our minutes to go in the half, Karson Templin and Aubin Gateretse each picked up their second foul, joining the Aggies’ foul trouble club as they watched the Runnin’ Rebels flip the script and take a five-point lead of their own.
Utah State pulled even with UNLV thanks to a three from Dexter Akanno, but with another bucket from the home team and two missed free throws from Mason Falslev, the Runnin’ Rebels took a 32-30 lead into the break.
Battling at the half#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/yk77ilZp8d
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
Second Half
Tucker Anderson, who was Utah State’s offensive catalyst all night, put the pedal to the medal to open the second half, hitting three-pointers on consecutive possessions, tying the game at 36.
Back-to-back triples for Tuck3r 🔥@TuckoA12 pic.twitter.com/SEkdUVWhhw
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
Even with the hot start, Utah State had major concerns in the foul category, and their problem got worse fast. Less than two minutes into the second half, Aubin Gateretse committed his third foul, and then just a couple minutes later, Karson Templin committed his third foul, sending two of the Aggies’ big men to the bench.
The Runnin’ Rebels and Aggies both went a little bit cold on the offensive end through the middle section of the half, but Dexter Akanno broke through to make it 42-43
The whistles kept coming as less than halfway through the second, Martinez picked up his third personal foul and Gaterets picked up his fourth.
UNLV stretched their lead to five at the 11:48 mark and maintained that lead for four minutes until Tucker Anderson once again put the team on his back with two big buckets before Mason Falslev hit his first three-pointer of the night to put the Aggies back on top 51-50.
Drake Allen then extended the advantage a couple of possessions later, receiving a skip pass from Mason Falslev and draining the three, forcing the Runnin’ Rebels to call timeout.
DRRRRRRAAAAAAKKKKKEEEEEEE 😤 pic.twitter.com/YV4VOKmjAa
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
And then from there, it seemed like the Aggies were rolling and ready to open up a big lead late as a broken play on UNLV’s end led to an outlet pass to a wide-open Drake Allen who slammed it home to make the lead 60-53.
However, after the 9-2 Utah State run, the momentum shifted when Utah State once again broke out into transition with numbers and Drake Allen pulled up from the top of the three-point line to try to sink the would-be dagger. Unfortunately, his shot did not fall and the momentum swung in the opposite direction.
UNLV hit two quick shots, including a long-range connection from Julian Rishwain to cut the lead to two.
Swish for Rish pic.twitter.com/d9OgqR4riH
— UNLV Men's Basketball (@TheRunninRebels) January 16, 2025
On the following possession, Karson Templin got stuck under the basket after pulling down an offensive rebound but somehow found Mason Falslev who spun and hit the acrobatic layup, and while it was a thrilling bucket, it would end up being the Aggies’ last of the night.
Rishwain it another three on the other end and then a Utah State turnover led to Dedan Thomas Jr. making a dive to the rim where he sunk the layup and got the foul, and just like that, the Runnin’ Rebels were back in front 63-62.
Utah State would take six more shots in the last 1:43, failing to connect on all of them. UNLV ended up closing the game on a 7-0 run to hand the Aggies their first conference loss.
Final from Las Vegas.#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/NKyR8urZMg
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 16, 2025
Aggies On The Stat Sheet
With the low-scoring affair in Las Vegas, Utah State only had two double-figure scorers, Tucker Anderson, who finished with 19, and Ian Martinez, who ended the night with 15.
It was their three-point shooting that kept them in the contest. The Aggies went 10-26 from downtown, four of them coming from Tucker Anderson who shot an impressive 50%. However, their misses came at an inopportune time as they failed to convert their final four shots from beyond the arc.
Two of the areas that hurt the Aggies the most against the Runnin’ Rebels were turnovers and free throw shooting. Utah State gave the ball away nearly twice as many times as UNLV, leading to 11 points off turnovers for the home team. Utah State also shot a putrid 53.3% from the charity stripe, and while it seemed like the Aggies were the team in foul trouble all game, they actually ended up shooting only two fewer free throws than UNLV. Utah State left seven unconverted points on the free throw line, an area of concern in a three-point loss.
Furthermore, with several of Utah State’s big men in foul trouble throughout the contest, the Aggies were forced to go small for extended stretches in which the Runnin’ Rebels dominated the paint, outscoring USU by 16 points down low.
Next Up For The Utah State Aggies
The Aggies will get some much-needed rest and will not play for another seven days. The next time Utah State takes the court will be at home against Nevada on Wednesday, January 22, at 7:00 p.m. MT.
