Cover Story: Magic In The Air

LOGAN – Maybe it's the jerseys in the rafters, Carroll, Cook, Estes, Grant, Green and Roberts, looking over their little brothers – making sure they uphold decades of excellence. Maybe it's the 10,270 fans, who travel from all over to help defend Cache Valley from any and all challengers at the gates. It could be in the walls, tucked away in every corner of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or perhaps it's the building itself, which wears 55 years of history with pride. A good magician never reveals their secrets.

Whatever the source, every person packed into the old gym on Saturday evening felt it as Ian Martinez's go-ahead three-point try with 8.4 seconds to play rolled across the rim, crawled up the backboard and ran through the same cycle a second time before coming to a near stop on the back iron, finally deciding after a long journey that it couldn't let all those people down. Spectrum Magic is alive and well. Three points, plus a foul, turned a nearly perfect upset bid from Boise State into a miraculous 81-79 Utah State victory, pushing the Aggies to 16-1 with a perfect 6-0 mark in the Mountain West, a league it looks tremendously well-positioned to win for the second year in a row.

"It's all I've ever dreamed of," Martinez said. "Thinking about my career, going from place to place was the opposite of what I wanted. I always wanted to stay at one place, to build myself up there, for the fans to like me and to win. I couldn't even dream of something bigger than this."

It was a fitting end to a spectacular evening of basketball, particularly because it came from the same matchup that defined the game writ large: Jerrod Calhoun's offense against Leon Rice's defense. In a game that saw only 58 possessions, the lowest of the season for both teams (and the lowest for any Utah State game since Feb. 15, 2015), every trip down the floor took on a life of its own – the Broncos constantly changing their defensive approach, forcing Calhoun and Co. to reach deep into their bag of tricks to find new ways to score.

"Good players make you look good, but I think conceptually we ran some good things," Calhoun said. "Leon did a lot of things. It was a jigsaw puzzle out there, to be honest. He switched ball screens, he was switching off-ball screens, he was hedging it, icing it – he did some things he's never done. Every possession, you have to think. That's why I'm not standing the whole time and getting emotional, I'm trying to think about what the last coverage was. I have two really good offensive minds here as well, coach Daniels and coach Asher, and they're starting to really understand my system. We'll get a steady dose of ball screens and a steady dose of off-ball screens."

As every coach and player to come through Logan since 1970 would gladly tell you, therein lies the key to Spectrum Magic. It's not some parlor trick to be deployed during an awkward pause at a party, not a cure-all that can simply guarantee wins every time Utah State steps onto the floor. Spectrum Magic is reserved for special occasions. It's earned.

The Aggies certainly had to earn it on Saturday night. Boise State started the game red-hot from beyond the arc, picking up a trio of three-pointers from Tyson Degenhart and a fourth from Andrew Meadow before the first media timeout, managing to mostly keep pace with Utah State despite a similarly excellent start from the Aggies, who made 7 of 9 tries from the field in the first 6:30 and built a 16-14 lead behind seven points from Deyton Albury, six from Aubin Gateretse and a three-pointer from Mason Falslev.

Boise State adjusted to force the Aggies away from the rim, where they'd done much of their work in the opening minutes, and largely found success with the change. Utah State made just one of its next seven shots from the field, missed two free throws, and watched as that two-point lead faded with a two-pointer from Javan Buchanan, a Julian Bowie three-pointer, an Alvaro Cardenas jumper and an O'Mar Stanley free throw. Drake Allen drilled a three-pointer to blunt the damage, limiting Boise State's swing to just a three-point lead on the scoreboard, 22-19, but the onus to adjust was suddenly placed on Calhoun.

"The kid has been getting better and better," Calhoun said of Albury. "He gives you that burst that a lot of people in this league don't have. We tried to exploit those matchups early in the game, I got him off to a good start, put him in a lot of pick-and-rolls to get downhill, and he did a good job. Then, Leon adjusted and they sat on some of those things."

Given a chance to call out new marching orders after Stanley fouled Falslev on a defensive rebound, Utah State showed a five-out look, using a series of handoffs to generate a mismatch, forcing the lanky Meadow to switch onto Martinez without any help nearby. The senior guard dribbled to the free-throw line, created space with a quick flip of his hips, and drilled a mid-range jumper to snap Utah State's scoring drought. The Aggies went right back to Martinez on their next four possessions, and while the first three ended with two misses and a turnover, he came up big on the fourth, taking a pass from Albury and nailing a three-pointer to answer two Boise State scores and cut the deficit back down to three, 27-24, ahead of the under-8 media timeout.

With Martinez in need of a breather and Boise State operating from a smaller lineup, Utah State moved back to its probing attack and cut the margin down a little further, pulling within a point after a Dexter Akanno jumper in the lane and a pretty backdoor cut and finish from Albury set up by a Falslev assist.

But, as was the case seemingly all night, Boise State punched right back before Utah State could really start rolling, adding a triple from Cardenas just ahead of the half's final media timeout and picking up another from Chris Lockett Jr. to answer two Albury free throws and push the lead up to five. Karson Templin involved himself with a pair of finishes at the rim in the final three minutes of the frame, Degenhart knocked down the ninth triple of the half for Boise State, and the Broncos took a 38-34 lead into the break – far from insurmountable, especially if Boise State regressed to its usual form from beyond the arc, having entered this game shooting worse than 30 percent from distance.

"Hats off to Boise State," Calhoun said. "Leon had his team as prepared as anybody we've seen all year. They attacked the zone and they had nine threes at halftime. Incredible. His kids were ready to go."

Utah State has made a killing on halftime adjustments this season and holds a 7-0 record in games it trailed at the break, but it was the upset-minded Broncos, in desperate need of a marquee win, who came out of the break with a flurry of haymakers. Cardenas hit another three-pointer in the waning seconds of a long first possession to give Boise State a seven-point lead, its largest of the game to that point. Albury missed a layup at the other end, Boise State grabbed three offensive rebounds on one possession, and Meadow added two more points to the scoreboard gap at the free-throw line. Degenhart did the same after a Gateretse turnover, and Cardenas cashed in a Martinez giveaway with a fast-break layup.

All told, it was a 9-0 run for Boise State spanning just over two minutes. Calhoun took a timeout to stop the bleeding and assess the damage, his team suddenly facing a 13-point deficit, with a sold-out crowd stunned into near silence. He could have laid into his group about sloppy turnovers, lackluster closeouts and nightmarish rebounding, but felt it was not the time, nor the place – his players were wounded, and he couldn't risk losing them entirely with so much time still left for a comeback effort. Rather than delivering a rah-rah speech to a team that already understood the weight of the moment and hardly needed the reminder, Calhoun leaned into the chess match with Rice.

"We're kind of tired, we've been all over the country, so I think you have to be careful about not losing your team in a game," Calhoun said. "This is an emotional game. I knew it would go down to the last three or four minutes, so I wanted to make sure what I was saying was direct, and not over the top. I think you can kill confidence and I don't ever want to do that. We just had to buckle down, make better decisions with the ball and make better decisions on defense. We tried to press them, and it didn't work the way we needed. We have to spend more time on that.

"But, everybody was positive in the huddle, and I think that goes a long way. When you have a positive mentality, you're not degrading the players or being negative... I've only had one bad game as the coach here, and it wasn't UC San Diego. It was Fresno. I told the guys that. I felt like a bad person that night. I couldn't sleep. I coached like an angry man, and that's not who I am. We were starving for effort from those guys, and that was the only game I've had to coach like that. Most of the time, it's been pretty positive."

First, Utah State went to what had worked best in the first half, clearing a lane for Albury, giving him a bit of help with a Martinez screen, and letting him do what he does best. The shifty senior flew into the paint with Cardenas on his hip, stumbled, and recovered just in time to elevate toward the rim, finishing off a layup through contact from the Boise State point guard for a crucial three-point play. Martinez, again matched up with the slower Meadow, provided another spark after two Stanley free throws, dragging the Aggies within nine points, 49-40, though that margin quickly expanded back to 12 on a Bowie triple at the 14:45 mark. Utah State's effort to close the gap came in waves, and Boise State had survived the first.

"It was tough," Martinez said. "When you're out there with a sold-out place like this and down by 10, it's tough. We had to respond. We couldn't stop there, it's part of the culture. We couldn't let down this whole gym with a packed house. My teammates did a great job of staying locked in, we got some stops, made some big plays and came back."

The Broncos weren't quite so lucky with Utah State's second push. Stacking back-to-back stops (a rarity in this game) and sticking to the aggressive, downhill offense, the Aggies picked up a Falslev floater, a tough runner in the lane from Akanno and another Falslev finish on consecutive trips down the floor, halving Boise State's 12-point edge with 13 minutes still to play.

Degenhart found his way to the rim to slow Utah State down for a moment, only for Akanno to usher in the next wave with a massive three-pointer on a baseline inbound play. The ensuing minutes out of the under-12 break would belong to him and Allen – the latter scoring on back-to-back layups to bring Utah State within three points, and the former stepping into another triple to match one from Meadow, plus two free throws on Utah State's next possession. Boise State could clutch to only the thinnest of leads, 60-59, and would need to hold off the ascendant Aggies for nine more minutes. The Broncos would have to stave off the crowd, too, which took on a crunch time-esque intensity when Falslev cut the lead to six at the 13:10 mark and never really faded from there.

"It was critical," Calhoun said. "(Dexter) is a guy who started every game at Oregon State. He's been unbelievable. Ian talked about these guys being able to accept a role. Most kids can't these days, they want big roles. Dexter has had a big role all year, but it's coming off the bench. He's never sulked or pouted, never had a bad day since he's been here. His mother, Mercy, I talk to about once a week. She said, 'Coach, this has been the best experience of his life. The best basketball, and you guys care for him as a person.' She sent me this text, it was unbelievable, and it means a lot for a kid to come over here as a one-year kid. If you stay the course with these kids, they'll give a lot to you, and I thought Dex carried us for a while."

Utah State wavered briefly as Boise State converted two missed Falslev free throws into a five-point cushion, but recovered within just two possessions as Templin knocked down a pair at the stripe and Falslev muscled through Cardenas for a layup. Templin provided the long-awaited breakthrough out of the under-8 timeout, drawing a Degenhart charge at one end and paying off an Allen assist at the other. For the first time in more than 25 minutes of game action, Utah State led.

Had the Aggies maintained that pace, averaging a preposterous 1.82 points per possession and outscoring Boise State 31-17 in the 11 minutes since falling into a 13-point hole, they almost certainly would have won the game by multiple possessions. That'd be a bit too easy for this bunch, which has both a knack for winning tight games and an uncanny ability to create them.

Utah State twice looked primed to break away for good, first on an Allen three-pointer and then on an encore triple from Martinez, only to give the points right back on the other end. Degenhart matched the first to knot the game at 68, and Buchanan answered the second with a putback layup to drag Boise State within one. After five missed free throws (one from Falslev, four from Gateretse) and two turnovers, Utah State was back in all-too-familiar territory, trailing 76-72 with 1:28 to play. On the day, the Aggies shot just 10 of 22 at the stripe – significantly worse, in both volume and efficiency, than Boise State fared from three-point range (14 of 26).

"I think Mason definitely has the yips, there's no doubt about it," Calhoun said. "He'll tell you that. We had Kohn Smith in here the other day, he's been coming to all of our practices, and he used to work Michael Jordan out. I said, 'Kohn, I can't fix this. Can you help me?' He said it's loose wrists. When you're shooting, you need to have loose wrists, which makes a lot sense. It's in his head right now. And then Aubin, I think the pressure got to him, quite honestly. We'll get better from it."

Up against the wall, Utah State called a timeout and turned once more to the matchup that had brought it within striking distance in the first place. Whiteboard in hand, Calhoun went to work on a plan to out-maneuver the Boise State brain trust. Inbounding to Allen, the Aggies used a zipper action to get the ball to Martinez and capitalize on Boise State's off-ball switching, creating two severe mismatches with Meadow in the post against Templin and Stanley on an island, tasked with sticking to the much, much quicker Martinez. Templin ran the show on the block while Allen and Martinez swapped perimeter positions to create a little more confusion for the out-of-position Stanley and true freshman Bowie. It worked to perfection. Both defenders followed Allen as he took the pass from Templin, neither recovered quickly enough as the veteran point guard swung the ball to the top of the arc, and Martinez nailed the wide-open triple without hesitation.

Using a great deal of help from their friends in the stands, the Aggies regained possession with 48 seconds to play and no further damage done on the scoreboard. Cardenas, a 74.5 percent free-throw shooter heading into the contest, missed both of his tries at the stripe. Gesturing wildly on the sidelines, Calhoun called first for an action to generate another three-pointer for Martinez. Boise State was ready this time, with three Broncos converging on the ball as Martinez caught it, but Utah State had a counter in its back pocket. In their scramble to contain the sharpshooter, the Broncos lost track of Allen, who took a return pass, dribbled once to split two defenders and finished a layup through Buchanan. In a reasonable basketball game, that would have been the dagger.

This is Utah State basketball we're talking about, though. There's nothing reasonable about it. Just 15 seconds after Allen's presumed game-winner, Cardenas launched a dagger of his own, connecting on a contested three-pointer to set the stage for the grand finale.

"I want to forget what I was thinking in that moment," Martinez said. "It was not good."

On the final play, operating from a sideline inbound, Utah State broke out one of its favorite looks – starting with Allen on the ball, Templin at the free-throw line, flanked on the perimeter by Falslev and Martinez, and Akanno positioned on the baseline opposite from Allen. The first movement, a scissor action, is built to spread the defense. Falslev looped around Templin and toward the corner in front of of Utah State's bench, while Martinez released toward Akanno after Falslev crossed Templin's face. Templin jumped out to the perimeter to create room for Akanno as he took Martinez's screen and flared across the paint, setting up the last leg of the action.

With little time to spare, Templin doubled back to the free-throw line, slipped between his man (Stanley) and Martinez's defender (Degenhart) toward the basket, and made just enough contact to knock the latter off course without drawing a moving screen foul. That's not actually part of the play, but Templin improvised just enough to make it work, keeping his hands high through the contact with Degenhart, and it worked out beautifully in this case: Martinez flew around Templin and caught a perfectly-timed pass in stride, planted his left foot well behind the three-point line, pivoted to square himself to the basket and fired.

"I think we're one of the better teams in the country at scoring out of baseline-outs, we spend a ton of time on that, and once again we scored on some of those," Calhoun said. "And then, we're always going for the win. We never play for overtime. I think a couple of the kids on the bench thought we would run something to get at the rim, but I've never been that type of coach. I want to go for it. So, we called T-cluster, we brought Mason off the top screen, Ian over the top, Dexter set a little rub cut, and then we in-screen. KT set a great screen and Ian was wide open – I was in front where I could tell Drake to get him the ball."

Degenhart was late and deserved the foul he was whistled for, but he was merely a bystander at this point. Utah State chose to play for the win rather than overtime, put the ball in the hands of a player who fully appreciates the weight it carries to don his uniform, and executed Calhoun's plan flawlessly on legs thoroughly worn down by a 40-minute war. The Aggies had earned some magic.

"That was as good a college basketball game as you'll find," Calhoun said. "Play after play, with multiple guys (stepping up). Everyone will talk about Ian's shot, but it was also the pass by Drake and the screen by KT. Deyton Albury had big minutes. Dexter Akanno had a lot of big minutes. This is a team in every sense, and it's fun to be a part of. This place has had so many historic moments, and certainly this will go down as one of those moments."