By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
San Jose State men’s basketball has good reason to loathe Las Vegas, but doesn’t necessarily need to fear it losing to UNLV 70-62.
Saturday afternoon’s defeat was the closest margin during this frustrating skid losing by eight points. The Spartans hung within 10 for the majority of the game and used an 8-0 run to make the score 60-64 with 1:07 left.
For a team that just suffered four consecutive blowouts-this was a breath of fresh air.
“We are showing improvement and if you try and keep a growth mindset I think that helps,” said San Jose State Head Coach Tim Miles. “They played so hard and really represented San Jose State so well, playing their tails off.”
Donovan Williams’ absence due to a twisted ankle in pregame benefited the Spartans as no other player besides Bryce Hamilton put up much noise on offense.
Hamilton’s 32 points made it his second consecutive 30-point game and third on the year. The prolific guard was cleaning the glass as well with nine rebounds, good for second on the team behind the 14 from Royce Hamm Jr.
It was déjà vu watching Hamilton take the ball from the top of the key and glide into the paint spinning away from any Spartan defender that stood in front of him. A midpoint between a twister and a figure skater performing a triple axel.
Saturday marked another game where the Spartans made a solid amount of threes, but only because of the high volume at which they were shooting them. An 11/37 (29%) showing from three wasn’t representative of “hero ball” or forced looks.
“Shooting is a finicky thing, we had some guys make some tough shots and then get wide open shots and miss them … we can’t have any lapses of concentration if we are too open,” said Miles.
Part of the Spartans loss stems from a common theme of getting outrebounded. This is to be expected with center Ibrahima Diallo being out due to injury, but the Spartans will have to find a way around this. During the five game losing streak they are -59 in the rebound battle.
“We need to be a better sound defense and rebounding team even though we are mismatched many nights out,” said Miles.
To end on a positive note, Trey Anderson’s 19 points were the second most he put up in a game this season and was one of the main reasons the Spartans were always hanging around.
The dish featured above from Omari Moore was one of three he had on the day to go with 17 points and seven rebounds.
His most electric basket of the day came on this coast to coast bucket where it looked like he was taking a nice stroll on the Santa Monica pier.
The Spartans aren’t there yet, but closer than they were before.