Utah State relied on paint play and clutch plays down the stretch to knock off Villanova.
SAN DIEGO — Utah State hasn't played a game where it made two or fewer 3-pointers since Dec. 16, 2023, when it shot 2-of-21 from distance in a 54-53 win over San Francisco.Coming into the 2025-26 season, no team has won an NCAA Tournament game where it's made fewer than three triples and its opponent made 14 or more.
Add to it that the Aggies were 0-of-6 in the NCAA Tournament when making four or fewer 3-pointers in a game, which includes a 72-47 loss to UCLA a year ago, where Utah State hit just four threes in a lopsided first-round exit.But on Friday, Utah State rewrote the history books in an 86-76 win over Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In the win, Utah State made just two 3-pointers on 16 attempts, picking the most important game of its season to have its worst shooting night of the year.Not only could the Aggies not connect from deep, but Villanova hit 14 threes on the day, including nine in the first half, to turn what was a 9-point Aggies lead into a 2-point deficit at the half."I think they made some threes that were contested, and sometimes we made errors and gave them some open ones," Utah State guard Drake Allen said. "We knew they were going to shoot a lot of threes, and I think we got lost a couple times. But all you do is keep battling."In a tournament where undersized or underdog teams frequently rely on the deep ball to lift themselves to victory, the Aggies couldn't buy a 3-pointer. Utah State has also struggled this season when the long ball isn't falling, as it has frequently relied on the 3-pointer as a crutch to open up the interior.In the Aggies' conference tournament and now NCAA Tournament run, it has been a dominant physicality in the paint that's gotten the job done. Against Villanova, Utah State scored 42 points in the paint to the Wildcats 26."When shots aren't falling, you've got to get to the paint. I think we're a really good team when we demand the paint," Allen said. "We settled a couple times today, but we're confident in our guys shooting shots. But they're just better when we get in the paint, and we play off two feet."Nowhere was this more evident than in Utah State's leading scorers, Mason Falslev and MJ Collins Jr. The Aggies duo combined for 42 points on the day, despite shooting just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc."It was a struggle to get the ball to go in the basket, but once a few go in, you gain more confidence," Falslev said.Falslev and Collins
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