Utah State basketball: Aggies scoring at an unprecedented rate – Deseret News

After scoring 35 points in Utah State's first two games of the season, Ian Martinez took his game to the next level Wednesday night against the Westminster Griffins.

The graduate guard buried a career-high seven 3-pointers on his way to scoring a game-high 24 points in the Aggies' 117-53 rout of the Division II Griffins.

"I think he's got a chance to be the Player of the Year; I've been saying it all year," USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said of Martinez. "There's some great players in the league ... but this is a big-time league, and Ian Martinez is a big-time player."

Martinez was one of six Aggies to score in double figures against Westminster (1-2), helping Utah State (3-0) become the first team in school history to score 100 or more points in its first three games of the season. The 1967-68 and 1972-73 squads are the only other USU teams to surpass 100 points in three straight contests.

The 117 points are tied for the eighth-most by an Aggie team, while the 64-point win equaled USU's fifth-largest margin of victory ever.

"We're pretty comfortable," Martinez replied when asked about playing Calhoun's style of basketball. "It's always good for us to get in transition, and that starts with the defense. We still have to clean up some things to keep improving, but I think everybody is really comfortable.

"It's easy to play and (Coach Calhoun) gives us a lot of green lights and confidence on offense. We know we have to work really hard on defense, so we can score a lot of points like we have the last three games."

Now in his second year at Utah State, Martinez averaged 13.3 points per game in 2023-24 and is the Aggies' top returning scorer from last year's 28-win team. Keeping him on the roster was one of Calhoun's first priorities when he was hired at USU last spring, and the native of Costa Rica is clearly the Aggies' top offensive weapon.

And apparently only getting better.

"Right now, the thing I'm most proud of with Ian is his assist-to-turnover ratio, which is now 12-to-3. Last year, he had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. And all season long, we've said to Ian, 'If you want to become a high-level player, it's about making your teammates better. ... And he's really been doing that every day in practice. And his leadership has grown immensely.

"He's going to be a go-to guy for us, right?" Calhoun added. "We're going to put the ball in his hands, and he's either going to make the game-winner or pass the ball to one of his teammates."

Martinez, who finished with four assists and two turnovers on Wednesday, went 7 for 9 from 3-point range in just 21 minutes of playing time.

He was joined in double figures by graduate guard Dexter Akanno (17 points), sophomore forward Karson Templin (16 points, six rebounds), sophomore guard Mason Falslev (12 points, five assists), sophomore wing Tucker Anderson (11 points) and freshman guard Jordy Barnes (10 points, four assists). Graduate guard Deyton Albury also added nine points and six assists, and graduate guard Drake Allen finished with seven points and five assists.

Utah State shot 63.6% for the game, including a season-best 17-for-31 (54.8%) performance from 3-point range. Westminster scored the first basket of each half, but the Griffins shot just 35% for the game and finished 6 for 15 from beyond the arc.

The Aggies, who led 65-25 at halftime, utilized their zone press the entire first half, helping to create 24 turnovers for the game.

"Obviously, we don't have to see anything like this all year," Westminster head coach Norm Parrish declared. "We were a little shell-shocked by their zone and their press. It's stuff that we obviously haven't seen yet this year, but we won't see anything like that either the rest of the way. But it's fun to come up here.

"Other than getting our tails kicked, it's fun to come play in a place like this. I'm from Utah and I think this is a great opportunity for our guys to come play and I appreciate them having us up."

The Griffins had three players finish in double figures in scoring. Former Skyridge guard Parker Christensen and graduate guard Ryan Rubenskas both ended up with 12 points, while former Utah Valley guard added 10 points.

Utah State played without the services of junior forward Isaac Johnson. The American Fork High product sat behind the Aggie bench but did not dress for the game.

"He'll be back Monday," Calhoun said of Johnson. "He was out tonight for a personal matter, but he'll be ready to go against Montana (on Nov. 18)."

Calhoun also said Isaac Davis was "OK" after going down hard midway through the second half. Barnes attempted to lob the ball off the glass for the freshman forward to dunk during a Utah State breakaway, but Davis ended up getting undercut on the attempt and hit the floor hard, immediately grabbing his back. He exited the game, came back for a couple of minutes, but then left again, still holding his lower back.

"Jordy got a little too cute," Calhoun noted. "He felt really bad about it, but I think Isaac was also calling for it. It wasn't a great play either way because you don't know what the defender is going to do. It could have been really bad, but I think he'll be alright."