Photo by SJSU Athletics
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) — MBB Beat Reporter
Depending on which side of the Red River you fall on, “Horns Down” is a hand sign that either starts a friendship or a war. For Josh O’Garro it was an easy way to sneak into the hearts of Oklahoma Sooners fans while being grandfathered into the next installment of the Red River Rivalry.
The noteworthy start didn’t translate into longevity as O’Garro decided to transfer to San Jose State after one season, returning to the same state he dominated high school gyms in for Santa Clarita Christian.
O’Garro is one of five Spartans born outside of the U.S. and one of four first-year transfers who are coming from a Power Five program. Just like first-year transfers Tibet Gorener, Trey Anderson and Shon Robinson, he’s seen college basketball thought of as a religion rather than a national pastime.
“It’s like an addiction … from little babies to old women, ” said O’Garro.
The basketball atmosphere in San Jose doesn’t have the same religious feel as it did in Norman, OK..
It’s how sports work. Ticket stubs have direct correlation with games won.
Thankfully, nothing is final, not the good and certainly not the bad.
As the Spartans are currently on a 10-game skid, each game is an experiment in which you test out different hypotheses. The conclusion of this scientific method will be a mixed bag of negatives and positives. If it’s negative you test a new hypothesis to solve the issue and positives are one less thing to worry about.
O’Garro’s performance in the recent loss to Boise State was a sublime example that better days are coming for the Spartans.
“In the mid-first half when we were there with Boise, it was like ‘yeah we could do this for sure,’” O’Garro said. “We were causing turnovers, getting loose balls, blocking shots and getting steals.”
A potentially monumental upset in Idaho was brewing with 6:13 left in the first half when the Broncos were leading 23-20. From there, Boise went on a 17-6 run to end the half up 14 and it was perpetually a double-digit game from there.
If you hung out with Buzz Aldrin and caught the game from the moon, you could tell that the energy and effort was there.
O’Garro was inquisitively waiting for a deflated effort of a pass to be made, pounced on it like Primetime and found Myron “MJ” Amey Jr. in the corner for a three — helping ignite a 9-0 run for MJ.
Being a ballhawk on defense: check. Not getting into foul trouble: back to the drawing board.
“I fouled out within the last three minutes [of the game] on some cheap fouls,” O’Garro said.
Learning the importance of foul trouble is part of the growing pains, but they are called growing pains for a reason and not permanent pains.
With less than a month left in the season, O’Garro and the fledgling Spartans are laying the first layer of bricks down to start a winning and electric culture. Some of it goes beyond the hardwood.
“Even to the janitors when I see them I’ll say hi,” said O’Garro.
His head nods to custodians are part of invisible chemicals that are slowly mixing around in a beaker that could eventually lead to better results in the win column.