Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
One couldn’t tell SJSU men’s basketball (7-3, MW 0-0) had defeated CSU Bakersfield (4-5, 0-0) when forwards Trey Anderson and Sage Tolbert III took the podium.
The Spartans shot 35% and 3-19 from three to leave Provident Credit Union Event Center with a 58-48 victory – the lowest points SJSU has scored in a win this season.
But as head coach Tim Miles said following the game, “Winning ugly is ugly, but it’s effective.”
Miles makes a salient point.
Although this victory would finish last in a beauty pageant, an ugly win is still in fact a win. Especially considering how the Spartans are now one win away from matching its total from last season.
“It almost didn’t really feel like a win honestly,” said Anderson, who finished with eight points. “It was a real ugly game. Everyone felt like they didn’t play their best.”
Time to dissect how it got so ugly and what the Spartans did to come out on top.
Closing time
Spartans fans should be pleased with how SJSU finished, but there wasn’t a lot to cheer about on offense.
They went 12-for-13 from the charity stripe in the second half after going 9-for-15 in the first and got some major contributions from second-year guard Alvaro Cardenas down the stretch.
Cardenas finished with six points in the final five minutes on two crafty layups and a pair of free throws. He finished as SJSU’s leading scorer with 10 points.
For much of the game, a 1-for-10 showing from the field and an 0-for-6 from beyond the arc clung to his stat line.
“Al finished with a flourish after not doing much all night,” said Miles.
The Spartans were down by as much as eight in the first half, chipped away and took control after Omari Moore beelined down the baseline for a thunderous dunk on the second possession of the half.
The fourth-year guard put SJSU up 29-27 with 18:48 to go and retained the lead until the end.
A 3-pointer from Kaleb Higgins, who led the floor with 11 points, brought CSU Bakersfield within six with 53 seconds left, but Cardenas and Anderson responded by each making a pair of free throws.
The Spartans locked in defensively in the second half holding the Roadrunners to 9-27 shooting for 23 points and allowed 13 points the final 8:27.
Not bad considering No. 9 Arkansas outscored SJSU 58-23 in the second half and exploded for a 44-13 run in the final 11 minutes of the contest.
A small difference in pedigree between the Roadrunners and Razorbacks, but improvement that vast is noteworthy.
Not a bucket to be bought
SJSU men’s basketball couldn’t have asked for a better night for an opponent to shoot 35% overall, 26% from three and go 4-10 from the charity stripe.
Considering SJSU’s remaining schedule, this could be the last game to eke out a win while scoring 25 in the first half.
Forward Robert Vaihola led with six points as four of them came on put backs, which is where SJSU made their bones.
Of its 25 points, 12 of them came on second chance opportunities. Add the nine made free throws, and only four points were directly scored coming out of a regularly flowing offensive set in the first half.
The Spartans scored 33 in the second half, but that also came with 12 made free throws.
Tuesday night was a 40-minute cycle of getting clogged at the top and then having to chuck up a three. Some three’s were solid looks, but many were taken out of desperation.
“They [CSU Bakersfield] do a good job of what I call winning spots on the floor,” said Miles. “They know where you want to go and they don’t let you get there.”
The team’s leading score Omari Moore, who entered with 14.2 points per game, finished with seven points, six of which were scored in the second half. He attempted one field goal in the first half and was out of rhythm all night.
“Missed shots like on the free-throw line or the three-point line I always say are like a virus,” said Miles. “When one guy is cold the next guy catches the cold and it just permeates throughout the team.”
Many possessions came down to the final ticks of the shot clock and ended in not-so-flattering heaves.
Final thoughts
Between shooting 35% from the field and 16% from three not much went right.
The one facet that kept SJSU in the game was its ability to control the glass.
Led by 11 rebounds from fourth-year center Ibrahima Diallo who finished with nine points, and nine from Tolbert who also finished with nine points, the Spartans outrebounded the Roadrunners 49-25.
Tolbert III, SJSU’s best transfer portal addition so far, has added tremendous value down low that was needed all of last year.
The win presented a new idea for SJSU men’s basketball fans to grapple with:
Balancing the joy of a win with the frustrations that occurred during it.
It illustrates how much higher the expectations are.
Last year, a win of any form – good, bad or ugly – would merit a parade. Now, the program has the luxury of looking down on the ugly ones.
One thing’s for sure: the Spartans can’t play expect to beat a solid Santa Clara squad this Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Broncos Leavey Center with the same offensive performance.