Photo by Sam Marshall
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) — MBB Beat Reporter
The San Jose State Spartans (7-15, MW 0-10) search to end their 10-game losing streak continues as the San Diego State Aztecs (13-6, MW 5-3) come to town. It’s the yin and yang of the Mountain West.
The Aztecs started off excellent, but are trying to fly through some recent turbulence while the Spartans have been defeated by at least eight points in each game for the last month.
Know Your Foe
Tezcatliopoca was a deity for the original Aztecs, controlling anything and everything related to prophecy and fate. No current Aztec has decided fate for San Diego State quite like guard Matt Bradley has. He’s averaging the eighth most points per game (17.1) in the Mountain West and his current hot streak could have him finishing in the top five by the end of the season.
In his last five games, he’s averaging 22.6 points on a ridiculous 50% clip from three.
The three losses the Aztecs suffered from Jan. 22 to Feb. 4 were partially because of no other starter scoring more than 12 points. Bradley’s been working double overtime as the heart, veins and capillaries and needs other Aztecs to start pumping blood and oxygen.
What makes Bradley dangerous is that he doesn’t need much to catch fire. All it takes is a couple centimeters of breathing room for him to step into a three and find the net.
He’s like a caveman rubbing two sticks together to catch fire.
He will always have four eyes and eight limbs around him, so rotations will have to be extra crip. All he needs is a window the size of a Spalding basketball to whip a pass inside to a big for an easy slam.
Defensively, the Aztecs are excellent. They allow the lowest points per game in the Mountain West. They force the third most turnovers in the conference which get turned into a brisk 12 fast break points per game on the other end.
Spartans Route To Victory
“You have to fall back on superior intelligence.” The quote is from greensman extraordinaire Carl Spackler in Caddyshack.
Sidebar: All these years later Bill Murray still got it.
Now back to basketball.
Superior intelligence in hoops often translates to awareness on the court aka knowing where the opposing teams’ money makers are.
As mentioned before, Bradley requires the attention of a squealing 2-year-old on an airplane. If the Spartans lose sight of him for a millisecond then the lefty is already cocking back to tomahawk a deep ball. Start with putting a body on him as soon as he crosses the halfcourt logo and make adjustments from there.
Offensively, the Spartans have been marginally better from three, shooting 43% in the last two games against Utah State and Boise State. In the three games before that against Fresno State, New Mexico and Air Force the Spartans shot a combined average of 20%.
With Tibet Gorener and Trey Smith walking out of shooting slumps, the chances of winning skyrocket. The three ball is the water to the Spartans’ sailboat as their 205 makes and 570 attempts both sit atop the Mountain West,
When they get firing, it frees up the team’s leading scorer Omari Moore to use his superb feathery touch around the rim.
Also, keep an eye out for Myron “MJ” Amey Jr. to get cooking in the second half.
It was the second time this season Amey Jr. put up at least 17 points in the last 20 minutes of a ball game.The first was against UNLV. Now the goal is for the Amey Jr. earthquake to be consistent rather than sporadic.
The game will be played at 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.