By: Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
When the final buzzer rang out Monday, San Jose State men’s basketball suffered its third consecutive blowout loss to start Mountain West play, this one coming by way of UNLV, 81-56.
The 25-point margin of victory for the Runnin’ Rebels was an indictment of the Spartans’ lofty 19 turnovers and inability to get anything going inside the paint.
“We had some guys get point blank shots and miss them, make a move and a counter almost unnecessarily and have the ball stripped. Got to be much better in the paint” said head coach Tim Miles.
Jordan McCabe of UNLV was the leader of the ministry of chaos for the Spartans tonight. He ended the game with three steals and was swimming through the Provident Credit Union Event Center like a shark that smelled fresh blood in the water. His on-ball penetration forced Omari Moore, Trey Anderson and Alvarano Cardenas-Torre to each have multiple turnovers.
Rebels forward Victor Iwaukor came off the bench and was also dealing out chaos toward the Spartans. He had three steals and was a roadblock for all potential driving lanes for the Spartans.
The potential light at the end of the tunnel for the Spartans came in the form of guard Myron Amey Jr. who led the team with 23 points in 17 minutes off the bench. With patience running thin to turn things around, Amey Jr. could see an uptick of minutes coming soon.
“He’s gonna get somebody’s minute,” Miles said chuckling. “He plays with gratefulness in his heart… that’s the mark of a player I admire.”
Amey went on a double-digit run by himself in the second half that brought an energy into the arena that was missing the entire evening. While the game was decided by that point, there was a fire in Amey that made fans shift to the edge of their seats in anticipation of what he might do next.
Defensively the Spartans weren’t as poor as the scoreboard might represent. Subtract the 23 points UNLV scored off turnovers and the Spartans gave up less than 60 points which is sufficient to win a majority of games. Taking care of the ball better will be paramount to the Spartans’ chances going forward.
The Spartans look to end the three-game losing streak as they head to Laramie to take on Wyoming Wednesday at 6 p.m.