LOGAN, Utah \u2013\u00a0Utah State men’s basketball suffered its second-straight loss, and third overall loss of the season Tuesday night at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, falling to UNLV 86-76.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Utah State led for over 26 minutes of action, and stretched its lead to as many as 14 points, but a resilient effort and a few timely runs by UNLV kept the visitors in the contest throughout. Poor free throw shooting also plagued the Aggies, as they connected on just 55 percent (17-of-31) of their shots from the charity stripe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
USU started the game hot, scoring each of the contest’s first nine points before the first media timeout as it made five of its first seven shots from the floor while forcing six-straight UNLV misses. The Runnin’ Rebels answered quickly, however, with 12 of the game’s next 15 points to pull even at 12-12.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Utah State led for much of the first half, the sides went into the locker room at the halftime break knotted up at 38-apiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Aggies opened the second half the same way they opened the first, jumping to a lead quickly with hot shooting. USU made nine of its first 13 shots following the break, establishing its largest lead of the night with just under 13 minutes to play at 58-44. Defensively, Utah State held the Runnin’ Rebels to just two made shots during that same span.\u00a0<\/p>\n
UNLV then caught fire, scoring the next seven points, and erasing the Aggie lead just seven minutes later. After making just two shots in the first seven minutes, the visitors went 14-of-18 from the field and a perfect 12-of-12 at the free throw line the rest of the way. After a tie game with 3:27 to play, UNLV closed the game on a 12-2 run to walk out of Logan with the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Utah State was out-rebounded 40-31, including a 22-14 disadvantage in the second half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leading Utah State in this one was junior guard Mason Falslev<\/a>, who led the team in both scoring and rebounding with 21 points and six boards, while also totaling two assists and a steal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Graduate guard Drake Allen<\/a> fell just shy of a double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine assists, to go along with three boards and a team-best four steals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with Falslev and Allen, three other Aggies reached double-figures in the scoring column including freshman forward Adlan Elamin<\/a>, who had a career-high-tying 15 points, senior guard MJ Collins Jr.<\/a> with 14 points and junior forward Karson Templin<\/a> with 10 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n In total, Utah State shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the floor, 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from 3-point range and 54.8 percent (17-of-31) at the charity stripe. UNLV shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58) from the field, 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from behind the arc and 84.0 percent (21-of-25) at the free throw line.\u00a0<\/p>\n UP NEXT TICKETS FOLLOW -USU-<\/p>\n
\nUtah State will hit the road this weekend as it travels to Fort Collins, Colorado, to face Colorado State on Friday, Jan. 23. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m., and the game will be televised on FS1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSeason tickets for the 2025-26 men’s basketball season have sold out. Fans can purchase single game tickets for available remaining games\u00a0here<\/a>. A waitlist for 2026-27 season tickets is now available\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nFor more information on Utah State’s men’s basketball program, follow the Aggies on Facebook at\u00a0usumensbasketball<\/a>, on Twitter at\u00a0@usubasketball<\/a>\u00a0and on Instagram at\u00a0@usubasketball<\/a>. Fans can also watch USU men’s basketball highlights by visiting\u00a0youtube.com\/utahstateathletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n