By: Matt Weiner (@Mattweiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
San Jose State (7-7, 0-2 MW) is still looking for its first Mountain West win as it is set to take on UNLV (9-7, 1-2 MW) at home Monday night.
Both teams are in the bottom five of the conference and suffered recent losses to Fresno State.
Know your foe
The Runnin’ Rebels are coming off of a heart-wrenching last-second loss to the Bulldogs. Fresno State was working with a comfortable lead for the majority of the second half bobbing up and down between double and single digits. Down 63-54 UNLV’s Bryce Hamilton went on a tear scoring eight points, grabbing rebounds, getting steals and helping to bring the score to 71-68 with 19 seconds left.
The comeback lived and died with Hamilton as he air balled a transition three with 19 seconds left and the final score ended at 73-68.
The cookie didn’t crumble in Hamilton’s favor, but he showed the Spartans that a double-digit lead could be potentially gone in the blink of an eye.
Texas transfer Royce Hamm will be cleaning the glass for UNLV all night. Hamm has 10 games with double digit rebounds and is nearly averaging a double double this year with 9.2 points and 10.3 rebounds.
Spartans’ heads must constantly be on a swivel close to the hoop because at any time Hamm could put you on SportsCenter for all the wrong reasons.
Spartans route to victory
Trey Smith finding his way out of his two-game cold streak will be paramount to the offense. Smith has been a shadow of the sniper who went 5/9 from three against Bethesda and 8/14 against Portland. When Smith starts draining, it frees up better looks from three for Tibet Gorener.
Better shooting from the perimeter will allow easier buckets for Omari Moore. Until then MW opponents will continue to build a bulletproof dam around the paint.
Tonight’s matchup against UNLV at Provident Credit Union Event Center can be seen on CBS Sports Network at 6 p.m.