It seems highly improbable, but by the time Jerrod Calhoun had guided the Aggies through the first two Mountain West Conference games of his career, Utah State’s new head coach already had a player who had won the MW Player of the Week award four times.
Such is the emergence of Mason Falslev.
“I compare him to some of the greats that I’ve been around,” Calhoun said of USU’s sophomore guard. “I was part of a Final Four staff at West Virginia, and I compare him to Joe Mazzulla and Da’Sean Butler. And what I mean by that is, those guys are really good players — great players — but even better people.
And when you have a kid that can really play like he can — but also lead by example and his voice — it really gives us an extension of the coaching staff on the court. And I think he’s done a lot of things. He scores, he passes, he rebounds the ball.
“He’s very, very well-rounded player, and he really fits our system; the things we run, how we like to play,” Calhoun added. “It’s been really a good fit.”
Falslev’s Utah State basketball career
A standout starter last season as a redshirt freshman, Falslev has continued his upward trajectory in 2024-25 despite playing for his third coach in three seasons at Utah State.
The 6-foot-3 Falslev, a prep basketball and football legend at Sky View High School in Smithfield, redshirted for the Aggies in 2022-23 during Ryan Odom’s second and final season at USU.
Under former head coach Danny Sprinkle in 2023-24, Falslev started 34 out of Utah State’s 35 games, helping lead the Aggies to a 28-7 record, a Mountain West regular-season title and the program’s first victory in the NCAA Tournament in 23 years.
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