Aggies out-last Trojans, win World Vision Invitational
The Utah State Aggies continued their win streak for holiday tournaments on Thursday night. Senior guard Brian Green earned the World Vision Invitation Tournament MVP, as he torched the nets for 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-12 shooting from the 3-point line to lead the Aggies over the Troy Trojans, 80-39.
Green averaged 15 points, two rebounds and three assists during the tournament.
“I was pretty happy about it,” Green said of his MVP honor. “As a team we came and played hard. It was good to win this tournament, and get us ready for league. I might have won the MVP, but it’s a team effort. My teammates were looking for me, and they were in a zone so I was getting a lot of open shots.”
It was an ugly game, but the Aggies broke open a huge lead in the first half and cruised to claim the World Vision Tournament Title.
“Obviously Troy wasn’t at their best tonight,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said. “Whatever the reason is, that wasn’t the same team that played a few nights ago. Fortunately we came out and guarded them and kinda set the tone early. They didn’t get any clean open looks. After that it was downhill for them.”
To say the Trojans weren’t at their best against the Aggies might be an understatement. The Trojans shot 12-of-61 from the floor for 19.7 percent, and shot 5-of-26 from the 3-point line for 19.2 percent. The Trojans struggled to even reach double-digits. Two free-throws from senior forward Levan Patsatsia, who lead the Trojans with nine points, put the Trojans at double-digits with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. By that time, the Aggies were already up by 20 points.
“It was just one of those ugly games,” Morrill said. “I’ve been on both ends of those; neither end is all that fun. Their end is worse than mine.”
The Aggies struggled early on as well. It wasn’t till Green checked in that USU began to wake up on offense. Green had 15 points by intermission on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 4-of-7 shooting from the 3-point line.
“Against a zone he is so valuable as a shooter, and he’s gonna get shots,” Morrill said of Green. “He played well. He plays hard. He doesn’t just make shots. He plays hard. He’s got enthusiasm and works his tail off defensively, tries to get the other guys going. Brian Green is a very valuable player.”
With nearly a 30-point lead at halftime, the Aggies could have relented and pulled their foot off the gas, but Aggies continued to play strong of both ends of the ball.
“It’s hard and I get a little painful for them sometimes, because I want everything to still be crisp,” Morrill said of playing with a big lead. “It’s hard when you are up by that margin. We did enough good stuff to feel good. It’s not our fault they had a bad night. We’ve still got to play. Everybody’s got to try and play well.”
Along with Green’s MVP Award, senior forward Tai Wesley along with senior guard Tyler Newbold made the All-Tournament Team. Newbold averaged nine points, four rebounds and four assists during the tournament, while Wesley averaged 10 points and nine rebounds during the tournament.
Western Michigan’s Matt Stainbrook, Idaho State’s Broderick Gilchrest and Troy’s Will Weathers made the also made the All-Tournament Team.
The Aggies will take few days of much needed rest before preparing to defend their Western Athletic Conference Title. The Aggies host Hawaii on December 29th and San Jose State on December 31st.
-ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu