During an out-of-bounds challenge in the first half, Mountain West Player of the Year Mason Falslev took teammate MJ Collins Jr. aside and told him, among other things, that he “loves the way he’s playing.”

Out of the timeout, No. 1 Utah State’s first possession ended in a Collins Jr. 3 on the wing with eight minutes to go in the first half. After a close opening 10 minutes to the game, the 3 put his team up five, which was about as close as it got for the remainder of the game as the Aggies finished the half on a 14-2 run.

Before the shot, Collins Jr. had four points and an ounce of frustration about how the game was unfolding. He finished with 20 points and four assists. Jokingly, Falslev said his pep talk is what made Collins Jr. hit the shot.

“That just shows the kind of team that we have. Everybody is happy for each other. You know, we’re a unit,” Collins Jr. said. “I’ve told coach plenty of times that this team has no egos. We’re just all happy for each other, and you can see that in our play.”

On the day, the Aggies’ transition game and hustle overwhelmed No. 8 UNLV in the quarterfinals opener of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship on the way to a 80-60 win over the Runnin’ Rebels, who avoided a monstrous Wyoming comeback in the first round to earn a date with the Utah State.

The Runnin’ Rebels were the only team to beat the Aggies twice this season, which gave a bit of an edge to Utah State entering the game. Some choice words were said in the previous matchup a week and a half ago, according to Collins Jr., which provided some extra juice.

UNLV committed 19 turnovers, only six more than Utah State’s 13, but the Aggies took advantage of them to the max, scoring 23 points off turnovers. The Runnin’ Rebels only managed three points.

“Yeah, I mean, our whole goal was to play green tonight. What I mean by that is just flying around, taking gambles. We call it, ‘Fit-fo,’ kind of figuring it out, problem solving throughout a possession,” Aggies coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “I thought our guys’ activity in the gaps on the ball (was good). Any time you can turn a team over 19 times, your defense is clicking on all cylinders.

“Probably where I’m most proud is the foul discipline, right? We talked about foul discipline. They only shot 15 free-throws. This is a team that likes to get the ball to the paint, likes to draw fouls. So, I thought our ability to play with our chest today was really, really critical.”

Falslev, who helped get his teammate going, finished with game highs in points (24) and rebounds (9). He found it everywhere on Thursday afternoon, going 10-16 from the field and 3-5 from 3.

Utah State will play the winner of No. 4 Grand Canyon and No. 5 Nevada.