Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
SJSU couldn’t shake its early shooting woes losing to New Mexico 77-57 in a game that featured head coaches Tim Miles of SJSU and Richard Pitino of UNM mic’d up the entire way for an all access broadcast on FS1.
Omari Moore led SJSU (12-7, 3-3 MW) with 24 points on 9-for-23 shooting from the field and 2-for-10 from three, but finished with a team-high -20. Moore was the only Spartan in double figures and scored 13 of SJSU’s 23 points in the first half.
Ibrahima Diallo and Alvaro Cardenas each had eight points and Robert Vaihola led the Spartans with 10 rebounds.
The Spartans shot 6-for-32 from (18%) after going 3-for-17 (17%) in the first half. They ended the loss shooting 21 of 62 from the field.
“We had a whole bunch of open shots we didn’t make and then I thought that led into us not shooting nearly as well and making poorer decisions later in the game,” said Miles.
The Spartans never led after the 15:44 mark of the first half and were down by double-digits for all of the second half.
The Lobos’ lethal backcourt duo of Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House went for 20 points each and UNM’s Morris Udeze, who leads the Mountain West in rebounding, finished with 17 points and 14 boards.
Mashburn (18.3 points per game) and House (17.4 points per game) are the leading scorers of the Mountain West and proved why on Tuesday night at the Pit, splitting double teams and knocking down jumpers with ease.
“They’re takeover guards and can get their own shot,” said Miles. “They can create for others very well. That’s a very difficult thing to deal with.”
UNM (17-2, 4-2 MW) wasn’t lights out from the field, shooting 53% and 3-for-15 from three after finishing 0-for-7 from deep in the first half, but got SJSU into foul trouble and knocked down 20 shots from the charity stripe. Mashburn Jr. and House combined for 15 of the 20 makes from the line.
Miles was particularly frustrated with how SJSU was out rebounded 42-30 by the Lobos, despite entering third nationwide in rebound margin at 9.2.
“What I can’t live with is just us getting out scrapped on the boards,” said Miles. “Not getting offensive rebounds when you’re only shooting 33% from the field and having a low amount of offensive rebounds which is something that’s supposed to be our strength.”
The matchup was also a BIG-10 reunion between Miles (Nebraska) and Pitino (Minnesota) who coached against each other from 2013-19. Miles leads the all-time series 6-4 despite tonight’s loss.
“It’s always good to see Richard and chat it up with him a little bit. I don’t like losing to him, but we’ll get a chance to even that up when they comeback to San Jose,” said Miles.
Next up: SJSU’s path to a bounce back win doesn’t get any easier as they face Utah State, who’s in the no. 34 in the NET rankings, this Saturday afternoon in Logan, Utah.