Utah State opens Jerrod Calhoun era with 55-point win – Deseret News

LOGAN — Having a few more days to acclimate to the altitude in the Beehive State obviously didn't help Alcorn State. After losing by 41 points at Utah on Monday, the Braves fell 101-46 to Utah State on Wednesday night at the Spectrum.

The 55-point win was the first at USU for new head coach Jerrod Calhoun, who was hired last spring after seven seasons at Youngstown State.

“I really wasn’t nervous,” Calhoun said as he coached his first official game on Stew Morrill Court. “I told the boys: 'You're nervous when you have bad players.' And I've been nervous for many years. … But we had a great week of preparation and I really wanted to show our fans what style we will play.

“We’re going to try really hard to get stops. We will give the boys freedom. We'll shoot 3s. We will use our depth. And we will wear the teams down.”

The Aggies (1-0) definitely did all of those things in the first half. After trailing 10:8 in the first five minutes, the home team scored 34 points in a row in the following 11:15 minutes to the delight of the 8,131 spectators.

The 34-0 run was the longest by a USU team since Idaho's 37-0 run over two halves in 2006.

“I've been doing this for 13 years and worked for a Hall of Fame coach: Bob Huggins, who may be the best defensive coach of all time in college. And that was the best thing I’ve ever seen,” Calhoun explained. “For a period of ten minutes they couldn’t score. And I think that’s because our team’s attention to detail was really, really good all week.”

The standout athlete for Utah State was senior center Aubin Gateretse, who played his first 30 minutes as an Aggie without missing a shot. The Stetson transfer finished 11-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free throw line en route to a team-high 24 points.

“He was a guy that kind of struggled in both of our matchups,” Calhoun said of Gateretse. “So he was a guy who had an attitude this week. He was very determined and did a lot of extra work with Coach (Mantoris) Robinson.”

Gateretse, who did most of his damage on lobs from teammates and offensive putbacks, managed just one more field goal to break the USU single-game shooting record. Mike Santos won 12-12 against Idaho State on January 12, 1978.

“It was just so much fun,” Gateretse said. “I know that if I do my job of setting the screens really carefully, my teammates will get the right results because we have worked so hard on it. We’re still a new team, but we’ve worked so hard together since the summer and everyone is involved and ready to share the ball.”

The Aggies collected 28 assists on 37 field goals while committing just nine turnovers.

Calhoun played with 13 different players, 11 of whom scored at least one basket. Sophomore forward Pavle Stosic was the only player on the roster who didn't see time, and Calhoun said he plans to redshirt the Gonzaga transfer this season.

Graduate student Ian Martinez and sophomore wing Tucker Anderson each scored 12 points for Utah State, while junior center Isaac Johnson finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Aggies shot 51.4% as a team, including a 12-for-31 performance from 3-point range.

“It was a great game, man,” Gateretse announced. “The team was ready, which only really started in the last week of preparation. Everyone was involved and involved in the coaching, so we just came out and tried to have fun and execute the game plan.”

Alcorn State (0-2), which trailed the Utes 50-31 at halftime before losing 100-59, fared even worse in the Spectrum. The Braves made just 5 of 27 field goal attempts (18.5%) in the first half and trailed 52-14 at halftime.

“We played a really good basketball team tonight in a brutal environment,” ASU head coach Landon Bussie said. “It was a tough game. I think we started the game 10-8 and next thing you know the score was 50-12. I was just happy to get out of Utah.”

Senior guard Keionte Cornelius (11 points) and sophomore guard Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt (10 points) were the only players to score in double figures for the Braves, who shot 29% in the game and had 20 turnovers.

Calhoun noted that the game was already on USU's schedule before he was hired to replace Danny Sprinkle, who moved to Washington after a highly successful season at the helm of the Aggies.

“I spoke to their coach before the game and he said a big reason they came to Logan and Utah was because they wanted to play in one of the best environments in college basketball to get his team advanced to conference play to prepare.

“…So the respect factor nationally for the Spectrum and The HURD and for our season ticket holders and the environment we create is second to none. And that's why I value this job so much. It really suits me and my family and I’m very, very honored to be coaching here.”

The Aggies, who open the season with four straight home games, host Charlotte on Saturday afternoon.