By: Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
San Jose State head coach Tim Miles’ first matchup against his former squad Colorado State didn’t go as planned with the Rams throttling the Spartans 78-42.
The fond memories from Moby Arena and his days spent in Fort Collins left Provident Credit Union Event Center as soon as the Rams took their first lead.
“It’s great to see those guys [CSU coaching staff Nico Medved and Ali Farokhmanesh] but at the same time we are facing a very good basketball team and trying to find out how to learn from that and there’s no nostalgia,” Miles said postgame.
The Spartans were constantly running uphill against the Rams. The Rams were down 3-0 early and after catching up, they never relinquished the lead. They spent a total of 39 minutes and three seconds with the upper hand thanks to the domination of guard David Roddy.
“He does so many things well,” Miles said. “He’s a powerful player so he can drive hard, get fouls or he can post up on you and he’s got a variety of moves and he can bang a three.”
On this particular occasion, Roddy was pedestrian for his standards. The junior’s six points were 13 below his season average, but his presence was felt in other facets of the game. He led everyone on the court with 11 rebounds, six assists and the double teams sent his way helped open up space in the paint for cutters to find some easy layups.
Nowhere was his presence more felt than on defense.
Roddy was a landlord of every inch within 15 feet of the basket and didn’t grant a lease for any Spartan. His performance won’t be remembered for any blocks that resulted in a nuclear mushroom cloud. What will show up on tape was his ability to force Spartans to make poor passes and bad looks around the perimeter. He had fingerprints on many of the Spartans’ 13 turnovers and 7-32 clip from three.
Omari Moore is once again being highlighted as one of the lone bright spots for the Spartans. Moore finished with 15 points and had a proclivity for getting to the rim and having finishes that were light as a feather around the rim. Moore’s brilliance was enough to have a solid day for himself, but not enough to make up for Alvero Cardenas, Tibet Gorener and Trey Smith combining to shoot 1-21.
The Spartans find themselves 0-2 to begin MW play and have lost by a total of 46 points. They only go deeper into the buzzsaw of the MW as they’re slated to face UNLV at home and Wyoming on the road this week. The former being at 6 p.m. Monday.