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LOGAN — Utah State basketball unofficially tipped off its season Saturday afternoon with an exhibition matchup against Seattle, where the Aggies won 88-76 in front of a crowd of a couple thousand gathered inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The exhibition event was also a fundraising event for Utah State basketball's recruitment and retention fund, with the proceeds from the ticket sales going directly into that fund.
"Great opportunity for us to not only get better, play against a good quality team, but raise some money for the future," head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "I really want to thank all of the people that purchased tickets. There were as many people that purchased some that didn't come to the game. So really, a win-win today."
The exhibition provided an opportunity for both teams to get their squads on the floor at game speed in a game-like setting, which is something that can be difficult to mimic purely in practice.
While exhibition games rarely paint an accurate picture of a team's outlook for a season, they can, however, provide themes and takeaways for a team, especially in comparing the team or players from one season to the next.
A year ago, Utah State had a strong offense with key guards the Aggies relied on for scoring. They struggled on the interior, relying on Aubin Gateretse for their primary inside game, who frequently struggled against physical opponents. Their offense ran outside-in, relying on off-ball screens and a drive-and-kick offense run through Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev.
Coming into this season, it was no secret that Calhoun and his staff were looking to add that element into their offense. That seemed to be a point of emphasis on Saturday, as the Aggies scored 46 points in the paint against the Red Hawks, with 30 of them coming in the first half.
"I've lost a lot of sleep over the last two, three weeks, and then organically, one day at practice, we came up with this little formula for our forwards, and it was pretty good," Calhoun said. "We have some quick hitting actions to get the ball inside. If we can't get it inside, we're going to play out of pick-and-rolls or flares."
The returning guards of Falslev and Drake Allen showed that the pick-and-roll and flare game is still strong, but the inside combination of returner Karson Templin and transfers Gary Clark and Zach Keller played with size and physicality that was largely lacking from a season ago.
In addition to those three, returner Tucker Anderson has added himself into the mix for inside play to complement his outside shooting threat. Anderson came to Utah State as a transfer prior to the 2024-2025 season as primarily a three-point shooter. Outside of a couple games, Anderson struggled frequently both to get open and to knock down the open shots he did get.
At 6'9, Anderson has always had the vertical size needed to be a force inside, but adding over 20 pounds in the offseason has given him the size he needs to play down low.
"Yeah, just don't want to be a one trick pony. I thought last year he didn't mix it up at all," Calhoun said. Calhoun also gave Anderson credit for remaining in Logan and dedicating himself to gaining muscle and improving rather than going to the portal and transferring to a different program.
"You saw it in his play. He finishes around the rim better, he's more comfortable crashing the glass, he's more comfortable finishing around the basket. I think he'll get better and better," Calhoun continued.
Anderson's ability to be a key figure in both the inside and perimeter game will undoubtedly earn him more minutes this season and make him an importance piece of the Aggie offense.
Several new Aggies shined on Saturday in addition to the familiar names, including MJ Collins Jr. and Kolby King.
Collins led the team with 15 points in a team-high 26 minutes, while King had 11 points in 20 minutes. Playing all 15 players throughout the game, the Aggies spread the ball and shot 55% from the field and 42% from 3-point range.
"We knew that they pretty much helped strong from the from the weak side. So, basically, getting downhill and skipping it to the corner we knew we had wide open threes," Collins said postgame. "This team, we have great shooters, so we just made the game simple tonight."
Utah State will have another exhibition game on the road against San Francisco before officially beginning their season on Nov. 3 against Westminster.
