LOGAN — Among Las Vegas’ numerous nicknames, the gambling mecca is sometimes referred to as “The City of Second Chances.”
And chances are, the Aggies will get a second shot at upending the UNLV Rebels on their home court Thursday night during the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The No. 3-seeded Aggies (25-6 overall, 15-5 in the Mountain West) will open postseason play at 9:30 p.m. MDT Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 6 UNLV (17-14, 11-9) and No. 11 Air Force (4-27, 1-19). That contest begins at 5 p.m. MDT.
Utah State roughed up Air Force Saturday night in its regular-season finale, cruising to an 87-47 victory at the Spectrum. That strong performance, particularly on the defensive side, helped the Aggies get back on track after dropping back-to-back contests for the first time all season on the road at Boise State (82-65) and Colorado State (93-66).
“Obviously, we were supposed to beat them, but you know, it was good to see shots falling,” said USU guard Mason Falslev, who led the Aggies with 18 points in the rout of the Falcons. “And it was good to see our defense do its thing. So, I think we gained some confidence there, and I think we’re really going to grow from that game.
“… We’ve been making adjustments the whole year, doing things to try to make our defense better. And you know, we made some good adjustments. After those two games, we learned a lot. We watched a lot of film. And hopefully our adjustments will carry us through the tournament.”
Air Force, which has lost its last four games by an average margin of 26.5 points, has dropped 20 of its last 21 contests heading into the postseason tourney. A 72-69 overtime victory against Fresno State in Colorado Springs is the Falcons’ lone win since mid-December, so an upset of UNLV in Las Vegas seems highly unlikely.
A win on Wednesday by the Rebels, who bested Air Force by 19 and 25 points during the regular season, would set up a rematch with Utah State. The Aggies were ranked No. 22 when they were upset by UNLV, 65-62, on Jan. 15, at the Thomas & Mack.
Utah State, which left Tuesday for Las Vegas, will have a chance to watch the Air Force-UNLV game Wednesday afternoon. That should give the Aggies a better understanding of how to prepare for the Rebels, should they end the Falcons’ season.
Sophomore guard Dedan Thomas Jr. hasn’t played for UNLV since suffering a shoulder injury late in a game against Fresno State on Feb. 15, and graduate guard Julian Rishwain had to be helped off the court seven minutes into the Rebels’ 81-67 loss at The Pit last Friday night with a non-contact injury to his left knee.
Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun coaches during the Aggies’ 87-47 rout of Air Force on March 8, at the Spectrum in Logan. | Jeff Hunter
“They’ve obviously got Dedan Thomas, who could be back, and we don’t know what’s going to happen with a couple of their other guys,” USU coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “So, we’ll definitely be able to get some eyes on things Wednesday and see what their rotations look like and that sort of thing.”
Rishwain, who scored eight points against the Lobos before getting injured, put up a career-high 26 points in the Rebels’ previous outing at San Diego State. And Thomas scored a season-high 22 points and played all 40 minutes in Utah State’s 76-71 win over UNLV on Jan. 29, at the Spectrum.
Despite being shorthanded, the Rebels held a 3-point lead with under eight minutes to go in the game at New Mexico. Graduate forward Jalen Hill (16 points) and junior guard Jaden Henley (14 points) both played 40 minutes in the loss.
Conversely, the Aggies are relatively healthy, although Calhoun pointed out that forward Karson Templin is still hampered by an ankle injury he suffered on Jan. 22 in USU’s home win over Nevada.
“I think this time of year, it’s mostly about cleaning up some stuff,” Calhoun said prior to Monday’s practice. “It’s about staying healthy, adding a few things, changing a few things offensively and defensively, and just making sure our work leading up to the game is good.
“… I thought we did a masterful job against Air Force and moving it, playing in transition. I thought some of our transition was really good,” he continued. “Defensively, I thought our changes that we made are good.
“And you know, I think it’s just really about having good practices because you never know in a tournament format — anything can happen in these games. 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.”
The Rebels and Falcons will be facing off in the final game of Wednesday’s first-round slate. No. 8 San Jose State (14-18, 7-13) and No. 9 Wyoming (12-19, 5-15) open action at noon MDT, followed by No. 7 Nevada (16-15, 8-12) and No. 10 Fresno State (6-25, 2-18) at 2:30 p.m. MDT. All first-round games will be available on the Mountain West Network.
The winner of the San Jose State-Wyoming game gets No. 1 seed New Mexico (25-6, 17-3) in the first game of the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. MDT Thursday. No. 4 San Diego State (21-8, 14-6) and No. 5 Boise State (22-9, 14-6) face off at 3:30 p.m. MDT, followed by No. 2 Colorado State (22-9, 16-4) and the winner of Nevada-Fresno State game at 7 p.m. MDT.
The semifinals will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by, potentially, the Aggies, at 10 p.m. MDT. The quarterfinal and semifinal games will all be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, with the championship game being shown at 4 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
“A lot of people have talked about who has the momentum. And believe it or not, I think the teams that play Wednesday have a little advantage,” Calhoun said when asked his thoughts on his first Mountain West tournament. “I think you get out there, and get used to the tournament, get playing. And I would say there’s two or three teams that really stick out.
“I think New Mexico winning the regular-season title gives them tremendous confidence. And anytime you look out there, you’ve got Donovan Dent running the point, and you’ve got Nelly Junior Joseph coming in to set the pick and roll, and then you got him posting up. Those two kids are unbelievable.
“I think Colorado State, over the last, month, month and a half, has made great strides,” he continued. “They’re playing really, really good. I mean, we saw that firsthand. And I think Boise and San Diego State is going to be a very interesting matchup between two very big, physical teams. San Diego State beat them twice during the regular season, and it’s hard to beat a team three times.”
The Aggies went into the 2024 Mountain West tournament as the top seed after winning the outright regular-season title under former head coach Danny Sprinkle. Utah State, which was 26-5 coming into the postseason, needed overtime to get past No. 9 seed Fresno State, 87-75, in the quarterfinals. No. 5 seed San Diego State blasted Utah State in the semifinals, 86-70, but No. 6 seed New Mexico pulled off a 68-61 upset in the championship game to secure the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
A Mountain West record six teams ended up going to the Big Dance in 2024, but this season, that number is likely to be closer to only two or three. New Mexico and Utah State are prognosticated by most college basketball experts to return to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year, with San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State being on the bubble heading into the conference tournament. But the Aggies would certainly prefer to pad their résumé with a win or two in Las Vegas to avoid being given a First Four matchup in Dayton, Ohio.
Utah State guard Drake Allen, left, gets a taste of Air Force center Wesley Celichowski’s arm as teammate Dexter Akanno corrals a loose ball during the Aggies’ 87-47 win on March 8, at the Spectrum in Logan. | Jeff Hunter
