No. 23 Utah State Stunned By Grand Canyon In Road Letdown
Jan 17, 2026, 2:55 PM
The Utah State Aggies huddle up during a road game at Boise State on Saturday, January 10. (Photo courtesy USU Athletics, Triston Hartfiel)
(Photo courtesy USU Athletics, Triston Hartfiel)
PHOENIX, Arizona – The Utah State Aggies saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end with an 84-74 loss to Grand Canyon University.
The Aggies (15-2, 6-1 Mountain West) faced the Grand Canyon Antelopes (11-6, 4-2 MW) at Global Credit Union Arena on Saturday, January 17.
USU began the day tied with San Diego State for the league’s top spot. Newcomer Grand Canyon is tied with UNLV for fifth-place in the MW.
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Final from Phoenix:
No. 23 Utah State – 74
Grand Canyon – 84#AggiesAllTheWay— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 17, 2026
First Half
The Grand Canyon student section helped lift the Antelopes to a lead as Utah State battled through some early road jitters.
MJ gets us going‼️#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/xXy9nOsT6o
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 17, 2026
USU committed three turnovers in the first three minutes, a far cry from the team that normally does a great job protecting the basketball.
A nearly three-minute scoring drought for USU allowed the Lopes to expand their advantage to 11-4 after another turnover, forcing Jerrod Calhoun to call a timeout.
GCU made 7 of its first 11 shot attempts as a normally stingy Aggie defense struggled against the Wildcats’ athleticism. Utah State missed seven of eight shots at one point.
𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓀𝑒 and 𝒷𝒶𝓀𝑒#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/6jjF8Aes4b
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 17, 2026
Utah State began battling back, cutting a nine-point deficit to one when Mason Falslev drained back-to-back threes, making it 23-22 midway through the half.
The Lopes didn’t fold, instead punching back to take a 38-29 lead into the under-four-minute timeout.
USU trailed 42-36 at the break after shooting a dismal 32.1 percent (9-of-28) from the field. Falslev’s game-high 17 points and four threes kept the Aggies close despite one of their worst offensive halves of the season.
GCU knocked down 53.6 percent of its shots, leading for more than 18 minutes in the opening half.
Second Half
Utah State’s defense buckled down to start the half.
The Aggies protected the basketball and kept GCU under 40 percent shooting over the first nine minutes of the half.
Utah State stayed close, trailing 57-53 with 11:06 left.
Nasty stuff on back-to-back plays for KT 💪#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/9IQcvZg6fU
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 17, 2026
Try as they might, USU simply couldn’t string together enough defensive stops and good offensive possessions to grab a lead as the second half ticked away.
Grand Canyon led 73-65 after a three-pointer with four and a half minutes left.
Trailing by eight, MJ Collins Jr. hit a straight-away triple with 1:34 left to make it a 79-74 game.
The Lopes pulled away for an 84-74 win.
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Utah State welcomes UNLV into the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Tuesday, January 20. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. MT.
Find Utah State’s entire 2025-26 men’s basketball schedule here.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24.
