By Matt Weiner (@Mattweiner20) — MBB Beat Reporter
The San Jose State Spartans (7-11, 0-6 MW) make their first appearance in The Pit facing off against University of New Mexico Lobos (7-13, 0-7 MW).
This matchup features the only two teams in the Mountain West who have yet to haul in a conference win. Spartans enter the matchup having lost six in a row while the Lobos enter having lost their last seven. Both desperately trying to scrape a conference win together to get rid of the goose egg that sits besides them in standings.
Know Your Foe
Guards Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr. come into the game as the main contributors on offense for the Lobos. House is averaging 16.3 points while Mashburn Jr. is putting up a commendable 17.8. Javontae Johnson spearheads the Lobos 3-point game with a staggering 49.5 percent from perimeter. The team is led by Richard Pitino, son of the infamous two time national champion Rick Patino.
With background out of the way, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of this matchup.
House is a slick and multi-talented player that loves to put defenders on their heels so he can get enough space to bang a straight up three.
In this clip it appears he’s going to drive to the rim which leads to the center staying home so he could simultaneously guard Lobos big man Sebastian Forsling, contest a lay up and maintain position for a rebound. To Robinson’s dismay, he pulled up on a dime and got the shot off fast enough to evade Robinson’s palm tree of an arm.
On top of that, he has the ability to go coast to coast and weave through a minefield of defenders.
House’s repertoire opens up spacing on the wing for shooters like Allen-Tovar and Jenkins to get hot.
Then there is the aforementioned Mashburn Jr. who’s 17 points a night come from a light and comfortable jumpshot.
Mashburn Jr. 17 points are also a case of quantity over quality of shots on the floor. In his last five games, he’s taking an average of 14 shots per game and only one of those contests has ended with a field goal percentage above 34 percent.
The offense for the Lobos has been solid, yet their defense is the chief reason why they haven’t won a game in the Mountain West yet. In the Mountain West opponents are averaging 80 points a contest against them and their 107.5 defensive rating is good for 317th in the nation.
Spartans Route to Victory
“Sometimes you gotta go back, to actually move forward.”-Mathhew McConaughey while in a Lincoln looking cooler than you or I ever will.
Now back to the game.
The Spartans hung tough all night against UNLV in their previous loss keeping the game within 10 points. There was no series where the wheels completely fell off and they allowed a huge pile up of points that put a ton of bricks on their back.
That’s accredited mainly to the defense being solid all night allowing a manageable 63 points. Not spectacular, but enough to get the job done on most nights.
The offense, that’s been heavily reliant on 3-pointers, only had three attempts in the first half and pivoted to an inside game that’s been under utilized.
They were getting high percentage looks and looked much more organized and calculated, rather than heaving up contested or shot clock expiring balls from beyond the arc.
Forcing a New Mexico team that’s been so poor on defense to play on their heels would yield great results. Obviously, team leading scorer Omari Moore and his feathery touch at the hoop will be the driving force, however there’s room for Trey Anderson to get some buckets as well. Anderson’s scoreless outing against Air Force threw a wrench into the previous two games when he scored 13 against Wyoming and 19 against UNLV.
Keep a look out for Anderson to be aggressive and create better looks for Trey Smith and Tibet Gorener on the wing.