By Benny Garcia — Reporter
San Jose State men’s basketball has won three straight games against Mountain West opponents for the first time since 2017 and they’ve done it without their leading scorer, senior guard Richard Washington.
Washington has been sidelined since taking an apparent head injury in a game against the University of New Mexico on Jan. 21.
Throughout the season, Washington has led the team in playing time at 30.4 minutes per game, as well as taking most of the shots.
Washington has scored almost 300 points this season, while averaging 20.7 points per game.
Without his offensive prowess, how have the Spartans managed to win more games without him?
Over their last three wins without Washington, the Spartans have averaged 72.3 points per game, while with Washington, they have averaged only 65.4 points per game.
With the loss of Washington’s minutes, they have had to rely on other players to showcase their skills.
Junior guard Trey Smith, sophomore guard Omari Moore and freshman guard Sebastian Mendoza are each playing far more minutes than they were when Washington was on the court.
During the win streak Smith has seen an average increase of 15 minutes in playing time. In his last game against Air Force Academy he scored 21 points including five three-pointers.
Moore has averaged 37.6 minutes per game over his last three appearances while hitting the double-digit point mark in two of his last three games.
Mendoza has made the most of his opportunity to play more minutes off of the bench and he has 12.3 points over the last three games, doubling his season average.
However, the contributions of senior forward Ralph Agee cannot go without mention.
Earlier this week, Agee was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for his impressive performances against Air Force Academy, which included a game-winning dunk on Jan. 28th.
In the victory against the Falcons on Jan. 30, Agee recorded a double-double as he scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
SJSU can thank the contributions of multiple players for stepping up in the wake of Washington’s injury.
The Spartans will hit the road to take on the San Diego State University Aztecs on Monday, Feb. 8 at 8:00 p.m.
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