Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Throughout conference play last season, Tibet Görener was the three-point specialist who couldn’t make threes. He shot 22.7% from deep and didn’t crack the top seven Spartans in scoring despite attempting 48 more triples than any other teammate.
But as SJSU has improved against Mountain West foes, so has Görener.
The Arizona-transfer drained a career-high six three’s on an efficient 6-for-9 day from beyond the arc, en route to a career-high 20 points last Saturday against Utah State.
“We really needed him, he provided a huge lift for us,” said head coach Tim Miles. “Tibet played an outstanding game tonight.”
It illustrated why former SJSU assistant coach David Miller (now at Xavier) brought him to SJSU from Arizona in 2021. Furthermore, it’s why he got signed to a West Coast powerhouse and was regarded as “one of the top shooters in the 2020 class,” by 247 Sports national recruiting analyst Josh Gershon.
Saturday was enough to reveal Görener’s ceiling, but not enough for a win, as the Spartans lost to the Aggies 75-74 on a free throw with five seconds left. One bucket shy of SJSU’s (12-8, 3-4 MW) first win in Logan, Utah since 1982.
Görener’s hot-streak kept SJSU above water even with a down day for Moore who shot 37.8%, went 0-for-4 from three, needed 19 shots to score 16 points and turned the ball over four times
“It was good to be able to not have to just solely depend on Omari Moore,” said Miles.
Moore’s backcourt mate Alvaro Cardenas has been SJSU’s most reliable second scoring option, averaging 10.9 points per conference game and had 17 points on 4-for-7 shooting from three during Saturday’s loss. But for SJSU to compete with conference teams like Utah State who average over 80 points per game, a third option must emerge.
That third option could be the lengthy shooting forward from Istanbul, Turkey, who’s 8.4 points per conference game is third amongst all Spartans and his 38.6% from three is second on the team behind Cardenas’ 39.5%.
The issue with Gorener has been his resistance to repeating excellence.
He went for 11 and 12 points respectively in wins over UNLV and Colorado State on a combined 7-for-14 clip from three to help SJSU obtain its first ever 2-0 start in Mountain West play, but he fell in fell into a deep rut in SJSU’s next four games, averaging just four points on 4-for-21 (19%) shooting from three.
In 50 games as a Spartan, he’s only scored double-figures in back-to-back games twice.
History has shown Saturday was an anomaly, but when Görener is lighting up from three he can be an essential piece to SJSU’s offense because of the pressure he takes off Moore.
With opponents shutting down drives lanes, Moore’s iconic darts to the rim followed by his crafty finishes aren’t as readily available. Opponents are more than happy to go under screens and let him chuck up three-pointers now that he’s shooting 28.6% from three in conference play.
Gorener was a viable option for Moore when Utah State clamped and kept him out of the restricted area.
Three of Gorener’s six three-pointers came via an assist from Moore.
The sample size is as small as it gets, but it has to start somewhere. Perhaps Logan, Utah was that place.