LOGAN — The new Aggie known as “Big Maple” found himself in a sticky situation as Utah State wrapped up its final summer basketball practice Thursday morning.
But in the end, Collin Mulholland found his sweet spot.
A native of Ontario, the 6-foot-11 Canadian tied junior guard AJ Bates in the final round of the team’s 3-point contest at the Spectrum. But rather than go another round, first-year USU head coach Ben Jacobson proclaimed that the winner would be determined in a quick shootout.
“Five from the Crumbl sign,” Jacobson declared.
In this case, the logo for the national cookie chain co-founded by USU graduate Sawyer Hemsley sits on the floor of Stew Morrill Court, 30-plus feet away from the basket.
Mulholland, who connected on only 13 of 60 3-point attempts last year at Chattanooga, ended up burying two of his five attempts, which was more than enough to secure the title after Bates ended up missing all five of his shots from distance.
“It’s cool; it was great vibes,” Mulholland said of his victory. “I like that these coaches take the time to do things like that, sort of add some like, team-bonding stuff into practice. It just keeps things loose, keeps guys playing well. It was fun. Everyone shot well, I just happened to be the guy to make a few more at the end.”
New faces and returners
Limited to 23 games last season with the Mocs due to lower-body injuries, Mulholland also had shoulder surgery during the offseason. But Mulholland said, “I’m fully healthy,” and the Aggies hope he can get back to shooting like he did as a freshman, when he shot just over 48% from the field and went 31 for 88 (.352) from 3-point range.
Of course, he wasn’t shooting from a Crumbl logo at Chattanooga.
“I can shoot from there, but I usually don’t. I’m usually told that’s not a great shot,” Mulholland noted with a little chuckle. “But we’ll see. … Maybe this year they’ll give me the green light, and I’ll pull a few from that distance.”
Mulholland and Bates, a transfer from Louisiana Tech who will likely be the Aggies’ starting point guard in 2026-27, both finished with 21 points in the semifinals of the 3-point contest. Bates could have won it outright, but his final attempt from the corner refused to go down.
That duo was also matched up against senior guard Mason Falslev, who advanced into the semis by knocking down his final five attempts, and freshman guard Brayden Boe, who moved on despite missing all five shots in his last rack.
The Mountain West Player of the Year last season, Falslev is USU’s leading returning rebounder (5.7 rpg) and second-leading scorer (16 ppg) from 2025-26 and keeping the star guard in his native Cache Valley for a fifth year was Jacobson’s most significant roster achievement since being hired as Jerrod Calhoun’s replacement on March 30.
But Jacobson also managed to retain senior forward Karson Templin (8.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg) from last year’s squad that went 29-7, won the Mountain West regular-season title, the postseason tournament and beat Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, the longtime Northern Iowa head coach brought back Boe and freshman wing Kingston Tosi, who both redshirted last season under Calhoun.
That core group of returnees was joined this summer by 10 new faces, with Jacobson still looking to add a 15th player to the roster before the Aggies embark on their first season in the new-look Pac-12. He acknowledged that that addition might be influenced by recent lawsuits that have led some student-athletes to be granted a fifth year of eligibility, most notably USU’s leading scorer from last season, MJ Collins Jr., who was added to Calhoun’s roster in Cincinnati last week.
“You’re talking about the players, and their families, and you’re talking about the schools and the rosters and the impact that it has now with the five for five, right?” Jacobson said. “I think three states that have already had their court date, and more states are lining up to do it. So, what I would tell you is there are still a lot of moving parts with that spot.”
One of Jacobson’s newcomers, Bron Roberts, was also limited to patrolling the sidelines this summer. The 7-foot sophomore center from Lindon, Utah, tore his ACL last February while playing at Snow College, but Jacobson is optimistic that Roberts will return to action sometime in 2026-27.
Another new Aggie big man, Connor Turnbull, also had his 2025-26 season derailed by a knee injury, but the 6-11 Evansville transfer made it back on the court for USU’s final two weeks of summer practice sessions after not being expected to see full action until preseason practices this fall. Turnbull was joined in the frontcourt by Mulholland and 7-foot junior center Sean Felts, a Crimson Cliffs High product who spent the past two seasons at Snow College.
In addition, the Aggies are definitely benefiting from the presence of 6-9 junior forward Will Hornseth, who played for Jacobson the past two seasons at Northern Iowa.
“Yeah, it’s super helpful,” Jacobson said of being reunited in Utah with the Wisconsin native, who averaged 11.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists for the Panthers last season. “Anywhere from when we walk into the gym, go into our warmups or how we do our shooting, (Hornseth) has the ability to snap through things and be able to do things with a lot of pace and sharpness because he’s been doing those foundational things for two years.
“… We’ve been playing five-on-five and I’m going through something in the huddle, and he’s elbowed me and said, ‘No, coach, that guy goes over there.’ And then I’ve seen where guys have walked next to him coming out of the huddle and asked him, ‘When do I cut? At what point in this do I cut?’ So, he’s been great in all of those different spots.”
Another redheaded big man like Mulholland, Hornseth said he loves Cache Valley but admitted that the hot, dry summer in Utah has been tough on a young man from the Green Bay area.
“It’s been pretty awesome, getting to know the new coaches and the team has been fantastic. And we’ve been putting in some hard work,” Hornseth declared. “And the community is awesome. I’m loving exploring a new town. It’s beautiful, and something I’m not used to, coming from the Midwest.
“But the sun beats down on you. I’m used to about a UV (Index) of 8, and it gets up to 10-11 here. So, I gotta stay inside. Especially being a ginger. I get burned in 15 minutes out there.”
Familiarity factor
However, having inside information on Jacobson and his coaching style clearly helps. Jacobson brought along PJ Hogan, a member of his staff the entire 20 years he was the head coach at UNI, and Gameli Ahelegbe, Payson native and former Portland State head coach Barret Perry, and Geoffrey Groselle are both new to his staff.
“I’ve been with coach Jake for two years now, and nobody else here has played with him,” Hornseth noted. “So, I feel a responsibility to kind of take his teachings and what he stands for, and kind of be somebody who can exemplify that in practice. Be a guy who’s talking, communicating with my team, and really taking that next step to be a leader and trying to be that guy that coach Jake needs to help make this transition as smooth as possible.”
One relatively familiar face and/or name on this year’s roster is Jax Allen, the younger brother of former Aggie Drake Allen, who played point guard at Utah State the past two seasons. A freshman out of Orem High, the younger Allen averaged 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals a game as a senior in 2024-25.
Other newcomers in the backcourt mix for the Aggies include Bates, who averaged 12.1 points and 5.9 assists last season at Louisiana Tech, and junior guard Solomon Callaghan, a transfer from Wright State who missed the latter portion of Thursday’s practice and the 3-point contest after suffering an apparent hamstring injury in his left leg.
Jacobson also signed former Alta High and College of Southern Idaho guard Ace Reiser, who is entering his sophomore season, and freshman guard Jordan Boyd out of St. Louis.
Been there, done that
In addition to a lot of new players, for the fourth time in the past six years, the Utah State basketball team will begin preseason practices in late September with a new head coach. And along with needing to secure one more player, Jacobson still needs to add two or three games to the Aggies’ schedule.
Thus far, in addition to stepping into Pac-12 play with two games against Gonzaga, Utah State already has road games at New Mexico, BYU and Memphis lined up, as well as neutral-site games against USC and SMU.
But as the summer practices wound down, Jacobson said, “We’ve made some progress here the last seven to 10 days. After the Fourth of July, we’ve been in two practices a week, and basically gone 90 minutes, twice a week. And we’ve been able to get up and down and play some five-on-five, which we felt was important to be able to that.
“… And we’ve worked on blockouts every day, and worked on our defensive footwork every day,” Jacobson continued. “We’ve worked on both some of our base offense, and then just put in a handful of actions. And like I said, in the last week to 10 days, you can see a little bit of progress.”
