Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
SJSU men’s basketball has found itself in unfamiliar territory with its 8-3 start.
The Spartans never won more than seven games in any of its seasons between 2017 and 2021 and much of its history has been marred by disappointment.
Winning and SJSU men’s basketball have become frequent acquaintances and after its 75-64 upset over crosstown-rival Santa Clara (9-3) the two could be on a first name basis.
“We are an upstart so it’s kind of blissful, right,” said head coach Tim Miles. “It’s kind of fun and it’s this innocent climb up and it really makes it more joyous.”
The comeback win showed concrete evidence that the Miles era is trending upwards, but it’s not where the “innocent climb” should end.
“I want to make it more than what’s been done in 35 years,” Miles said with fervor.
SJSU men’s basketball has two winnable non-conference games left against Pacific (5-8) on Dec. 16 and Cal Poly (5-4) on Dec. 20. Santa Clara is a tougher opponent than both squads.
The climb gets exponentially steeper in two weeks when Mountain West play kicks off against the undefeated UNLV.
Fresno State at 3-6 is the only Mountain West team below .500 and seven teams have at least eight wins.
It’s also the only conference in the nation with multiple undefeated teams in Utah State, UNLV and New Mexico.
The upcoming Mountain West slate is half daunting, but also half conquerable – that is if SJSU men’s basketball can continue what it’s done so far and especially against Santa Clara.
“It’s having that attitude, that underdog mentality, the idea that we are going to outwork you,” said assistant coach Ben Johnson. “The idea that we have a plan and a system and if we follow the plan and the system good things are going to happen.”
As expected, the team’s welfare starts and stops with star fourth-year guard Omari Moore, who scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half and pitched in seven assists.
His second-half offensive explosion strong-armed SJSU men’s basketball to the win. But his defense on SCU’s Brandin Podziemski was equally valuable.
In the first half, the WCC’s leading scorer with 20 points per game, was playing as advertised.
The second-year guard had 10 points at the half and a slew of velvet-smooth highlights.
During halftime with the Spartans trailing 37-29, SJSU made a defensive adjustment to place Moore on Podziemski.
Which was executed to perfection as Podziemski finished with two points on 1-6 shooting.
Defensive adjustments didn’t stop at Podziemski. SJSU also forced SCU’s Carlos Stewart to score two points in the second half after he finished with 17 in the first.
“We changed how he was coming off ball screens so we were able to switch to see if he can take advantage of a bigger guy, our bigger guys were able to stay in front of him so it worked out pretty good for us,” said Miles.
With that said, some parts of the win might be an anomaly.
Sage Tolbert III went 4-for-4 from three despite coming into Saturday having made two triples in a game once in his five-year career.
Other components such as productive bench play and lively bench culture have potential to become habitual.
The Spartans outscored the Broncos 16-2 off the bench as second string guards MJ Amey and Garret Anderson combined for seven crucial points in the second half.
“Being really active and vocal on the bench is super important. That’s the culture we are trying to bring here,” said second-year guard Alvaro Cardenas. “One example of that is Garrett.”
Cardenas has realized the power of a positive bench culture over the course of the season.
“Even in Santa Clara we started chanting defense on the bench and then half the arena started chanting with us,” said Cardenas.
The improvement also goes hand in hand with no injuries to vital pieces of SJSU men’s basketball. This comes following an injury-plagued season with some games featuring only six players dressing out last year.
“We need to finish strong, continue to get better on all facets of the game. It’s really truly nothing more than that,” said Miles.
