LOGAN, Utah — Utah State makes more room in its trophy case as the men's basketball team brought home the 2025-26 outright regular season title in the Mountain West on Saturday.
The Aggies clinched the championship in a win over New Mexico on Saturday, an effort led by MJ Collins Jr. on his Senior Night.
"Not too many people are able to say that they’ve won anything, especially not in college," Collins said. "With this group of guys, coaching staff, I’m fortunate enough to say I’m a champion."
Utah State Aggies
Utah State wins Mountain West Conference regular season title
"I thought our guys were just resilient," Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "I thought we got great efforts from a lot of guys. Obviously, MJ carried us in that second half."
Collins started his collegiate career at Virginia Tech and spent last year with Vanderbilt. The South Carolina native bet on himself to move across the country with the goal of bringing a title to USU.
"The grass is greener on the other side, sometimes," he said. "A lot of people told me that I was crazy for coming out here. You know, to be honest, I thought I was crazy to be coming 30 hours from home, but it's a bigger picture.
"Utah State, that’s my school. You know, I’ve been to Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, but this is the school that I’ll claim."
The title was coupled with a Senior Day celebration, and Collins was surrounded by the support system that got him to this moment.
"My dad, we would be up four in the morning working out, and you know, me and him would have some heartache and pain conversations, but he always stuck with me," Collins said. "I won a state championship in high school, my dad stormed the court, and he was the first person to get to me. And it was the same thing here. He was right there, gave me a big hug, and told me we did it."
Collins and the Aggies are the no. 1 seed in the Mountain West tournament, which tips off on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
