Green sets career high; USU subdues San Jose
Halfway through the Western Athletic Conference schedule, and the Aggies are still perfect after an 84-65 win on the road at San Jose State Thursday.
Despite a 14-37 combined shooting performance from the starting five, Utah State still managed to score a season-high 84 points, led by the team’s pair of super-subs Brian Green and Brady Jardine.
Green led the way for the Aggies, cranking out a career-high 25 points on 8-9 shooting, including 5-5 from behind the 3-point line. Green also pulled down six rebounds in the game in leading USU to its 14th-consecutive victory.
Utah State head coach Stew Morrill offered up his praises for Green following the game: “We wouldn’t be sitting where we are with a championship last year and playing towards another one without him.”
Green’s performance was especially key considering the off-night for the starting post duo of Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall. Bendall was scoreless on 0-2 shooting for the game while Wesley added nine points and six rebounds for the game.
“That’s why it’s so important to have somebody take up the slack like Brian did,” Morrill said.
With the Aggies leading by 10, 45-35 early in the second half, Green knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as part of an 11-4 run over the next five minutes that put USU into a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game.
Green wasn’t the only Aggie hitting from outside though as both Pooh Williams and Tyler Newbold each knocked down pair of 3-pointers of their own in a game where Utah State shot a combined 9-17 from behind the arc.
Picking up the slack for Bendall was Jardine, who played 21 minutes in Thursday’s game, his most since USU’s 81-67 win at Nevada earlier this month. With increased minutes also came increased output as Jardine notched double figures in scoring for the first time since that Nevada victory with a 12-point effort Thursday on 4-9 shooting. Jardine also blocked a pair of shots on the defensive end of the court.
Junior point guard Brockeith Pane also bounced back in a big way after scoring just two points in Utah State’s 59-49 win against New Mexico State. Pane was the only Aggie starter to shoot 50 percent or better on the game, making 4-8 shots from the field and hitting on 5-7 free-throw attempts for 13 points.
Big man Morgan Grim also saw more minutes than he has recently, with 12 minutes of play against the Spartans. The junior responded strongly with five points on 2-3 shooting, including a basket and a foul that put the stamp on USU’s final big run of the game as the Aggies pulled away for the victory.
“I heard the whistle and I just tried to throw it up there and it went in,” Grim said of his 3-point play. “It was lucky.”
Grim, Green and Jardine’s play was a big factor in putting together scoring runs for USU to counter San Jose’s runs and keep the Spartans from ever gaining real momentum on their home floor during the second half.
“We just came in, the second group, and tried to bring some energy,” Grim said. “Basketball’s a game of runs. They’re going to have their runs, we’re going to have ours.”
While Green and Jardine’s big games were the highlights for the Aggies in their victory, San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver showed that he is indeed still the same threat as before, after scoring just 10 points in the Spartans’ previous game after missing two games to injury prior to that. Oliver scored 29 points on 10-23 shooting, including 9-11 from the free-throw line.
Guards Keith Shamburger and Calvin Douglas also scored in double-figures for the Spartans for the game, with 13 and 10 points respectively.
The Spartans also out-rebounded the Aggies for the game, 28-23. It marked just the fifth time all season that a team has pulled down more rebounds than Utah State.
As a team, Utah State shot 47.5 percent from the field and was particularly good from the free-throw line as a team, making 19 of 23 shots.
The Aggies now travel to the islands of Hawaii for a rematch with the Warriors, who hung tough with Utah State in the opening game of the WAC season. If ever there was a chance for Wesley and Bendall to bounce back strong from an off-night, Hawaii looks to provide that opportunity. Wesley matched his career-high point total of 27 points in the first meeting between the Aggies and Warriors this year, making 8-12 shots from the field and a perfect 11-11 from the free-throw line. Wesley also had 13 rebounds in that game, eight of which were on the offensive end of the court.
“We really need to go into Hawaii in a great frame of mind,” Morrill said of his team’s mentality going into what looks to be a tough atmosphere in a road game that always poses a unique challenge with the amount of travel. “The last thing we need to do is go and put all sorts of pressure on ourselves.”
Tip-off for that game is Saturday at 10:05 p.m.
–matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu