Utah State did not just beat UC San Diego on Friday night at the Spectrum in Logan. It overwhelmed the Tritons 120-82, a 38-point win built on a blistering start, 73 first-half points and a career-high 33 from Mason Falslev.
That is the kind of number that makes people look twice. Falslev played 34 minutes, added 12 rebounds and four assists, and did it with a line that looked almost effortless: 12 for 16 from the field, 3 for 5 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the line. Ben Jacobson called it “quite a half of basketball,” and said it was fun to watch his group run and play at that level.
The win pushed Utah State to 4-0, while UC San Diego slipped to 2-1. It also lifted the Aggies 12 spots in the KenPom ratings to No. 30. Through four games, Utah State is averaging 105.5 points per game and winning by an average of 35 points, a start that has turned every night into a scoring display rather than a routine conference-style grind.
The shooting volume told the story as much as the final score. Utah State went 21 for 38 from 3-point range and tied the school record with 21 makes, matching the mark set in a win over Westminster in 2022. The numbers were not isolated, either. Over a 40-minute span that stretched across the second half against Utah Tech and the first half against UC San Diego, Utah State piled up 138 points. That is the sort of run that changes a game before the opponent can settle in.
There was still a reminder of how quickly things can swing. The last time these teams met, Utah State scored only 73 points and lost by two. This time the Aggies had five players in double figures, with Solomon Callaghan scoring 22, Dallin Hall adding 15, Karson Templin finishing with 16 and Will Hornseth contributing 12, while AJ Bates scored 10 off the bench with six assists. Callaghan made five 3-pointers, Hall went 5 for 7 from deep, and Templin hit two of his own, all of it feeding the same pace that left UC San Diego chasing.
Falslev said the group has been connected, willing to move the ball and keep spacing the floor until shots open up, and that the production has felt like a matter of time. The bigger question now is whether Utah State can keep scoring like this when the margin narrows and the shots get harder to find. For the moment, the Aggies have given the rest of the schedule a number to chase: 120.
