Utah State draws 4-seed in the NIT, hosts Oregon Tuesday night
LOGAN – Utah State Men’s Basketball has been selected as a four seed to play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) after an 18-15 season. The Aggies will host the Oregon Ducks at 7 pm on Tuesday night in the Spectrum.
“Everybody’s ecstatic about continuing the season and being able to compete with one another for sure one more time,” head coach Ryan Odom said to the media Sunday night. “We’re just excited that we’re able to play in front of the Aggie fans again.”
Oregon finished the season 18-14, going 5-5 in games played on the road and 4-5 in quad 1 matchups.
“They’re a really talented team for sure,” Odom said. “They’re going to keep you off balance with their defenses. Offensively, they’re going to be extremely efficient, and they’re going to have size and athleticism and quickness.”
Oregon is led by senior guard Will Richardson. Richardson leads the ducks in points scored, averaging just over 14 points per game, assists per game and field goal percentage. Richardson did not travel to the PAC-12 tournament this week in Las Vegas due to a “non-COVID-19 related illness.”
Richardson was named to the All-PAC-12 Second Team after leading the Ducks in most statistical categories. Despite the accolade, Richardson only totaled double-digit scoring once in his final three games, including an 0-3 shooting performance in his last regular-season game.
Richardson hasn’t played a game for the Ducks since March 3, missing the final game of the regular season and both games in the conference tournament. Even with his recent absence, Oregon coach Dana Altman told the media “he just wasn’t feeling well,” after Oregon’s final regular-season game. Without any substantive injury, it would not be surprising to see Richardson return to the court for Tuesday night’s postseason matchup.
For Utah State, the NIT bid presents an opportunity to break an eight-game losing streak in this tournament. The last time the Aggies won an NIT game came in 1960. Their most recent trip to the NIT came back in 2008 when they fell to Illinois State 57-61.
The Aggies then they’ve been most of the season. Senior guard Brock Miller has returned to the court for the last several games. Guard Steven Ashworth missed the regular-season finale at San Jose State with an injury he sustained in practice but played in both conference tournament games. There is no reason to suspect that Ashworth won’t be playing come Tuesday night.
In addition to their health, forward Brandon Horvath has also improved significantly for Utah State as the season has drawn on. Horvath has posted double-digit scoring performances in each of his last 14 games after the 17-point performance against Colorado State in the Mountain West tournament.
Oregon’s forward duo of Quincy Guerrier and Eric Williams Jr. lead the charge down low for the Ducks, averaging 10.3 and 8.2 points per game respectively. They will be met by the Aggies duo of forwards Horvath and Justin Bean. Bean and Horvath lead the Aggies in points per game with 17.7 and 13.8 respectively. The battle in the paint between these two teams will be a large determining factor for who wins Tuesday’s first-round matchup.