Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
SJSU men’s basketball has lived up to head coach Tim Miles’ proclamation sent out at the Mountain West tournament earlier this year.
Miles’ with sheer conviction said the Spartans would be bigger, better and stronger three times.
His warning shot turned prophetic after SJSU stunned UNLV in overtime last Wednesday.
It’s the first time SJSU (10-4, 1-0) has ever opened up Mountain West play with a win. The win also marks the first time SJSU has ever claimed a winning record in conference play as well.
“I thought we had a really gritty effort late in the game and overtime,” said Miles after the victory.
The Runnin’ Rebels’ .917 winning percentage claimed second best in the Mountain West and were 73 spots higher in the NET rankings than the Spartans.
Sage Tolbert and teammates celebrating SJSU’s overtime stunner against UNLV (via SJSU Athletics)
“[This win] is definitely huge for the program and it’s big for us going forward,” said SJSU guard Omari Moore after the game. “We want to keep building on it and keep putting the league on notice.”
For Miles, it’s just another chapter in a life’s work built off rebuilding programs.
It’s how he broke into college basketball in 1995 at NAIA Mayville State and kept climbing the ladder from one NCAA level to the next. Finding a way to crush and modulate coal into Cartier earrings.
Now the Spartans head to a place where Miles’ conducted some of his finest symphonies of rebuild magic in Colorado State.
The five years spent in Fort Collins from 2007-2012 holds a uniquely warm place in Miles’ life, but its the connection and history he shares with Rams’ head coach Nico Medved that will add a layer of nostalgia to Friday afternoon’s matchup.
“He was my first hire at CSU and I’m so glad I hired him,” Miles said in an interview from 2018. (EDITOR’S NOTE: source? where is the interview from)
Medved’s recruiting contributed to the Rams’ back-to-back 19-plus win campaigns in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
While Miles left for Nebraska after 2012, Medved remained on the staff for one more season and helped coach CSU to a 26-9 record and one NCAA tournament win.
Medved returned to Fort Collins in 2018 after taking over the helm at Furman and Drake, and picked up where he left off as CSU has amassed three straight 20-plus win seasons. Including last year’s 26-win season and NCAA tournament appearance.
It’s of no surprise to Miles who had this to say back in 2018 when Medved was hired:
“I was there for five years, I can tell you that everybody loves Fort Collins, it’s a phenomenal place to live,” Miles said, “But not everyone is a perfect fit for CSU. Niko is.”
The second reunion between Miles and Medved carries a much different story than the first one.
Last year, SJSU was blown out by 36 points in its conference home opener to CSU. A sight of forthcoming misery for the Spartans who notched just one conference victory last season.
But a year later, with both teams trending in opposite directions, Spartan fans can go into this expecting a win.
The Rams (8-6, 0-1) and are feeling the absence of former forward David Roddy who now suits up for the Memphis Grizzlies. Roddy’s grizzly-like strength provided CSU with rim protection, rebounding and a flurry of offense.
In last season’s clash, the Rams grabbed 18 more boards than the Spartans and outscored them by 26 points in the paint.
However, the recent additions of Temple-transfer Sage Tolbert and Fresno State-transfer Robert Vaihola, plus a healthy Ibrahima Diallo, should keep these former massive front court imbalances in check.
The Spartans have the third-best rebound margin nationwide at +12 and Tolbert leads the Mountain West with eight rebounds per game.
What SJSU lacks in elite scoring talent, they make up for in grit and defensive effort.
On one occasion late against UNLV, Alvaro Cardenas and Garrett Anderson dove for a loose ball and were tangled up in a chaotic Greco-Roman wrestling style match. Looking as if they’d rather lose a limb than a possession.
Their much improved defense held strong on Wednesday, not allowing a single field goal in the final 5:11 in the first half and final 3:21 of the second half.
It’s what they’ll need to continue to do because they lack an offense that can dig them out of big ruts.
Moore is the number one scoring option and a solid one at that, but he’s only averaging 13.9 points per game while shooting 43.9% from the field, 33.3% from 3-point range and 69.4% from the foul line
Besides him, there’s no other lethal option from beyond the arc or a persistent threat to score inside the paint.
What’s more, is that SJSU men’s basketball shot 38% from the field and hit three’s at a 25% clip against UNLV.
A testament to how they are in large part “bigger, stronger and better.” None of whats happened can be chalked up to a once-in-a-lifetime shooting hot streak.
For the first time since possibly the 2016-17 season when the Brandon Clarke-led Spartans won seven games, Spartan nation can go into a Mountain West matchup expecting to win.
An arcane concept for a fanbase who’s beloved team has suffered a .127 conference winning percentage over the last nine seasons.