Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
San Jose State’s Omari Moore is living, breathing and navigating the pressures that come from the dichotomy that surrounds a team’s best player.
His high scoring pedigree gifts him the trust from SJSU head coach Tim Miles and teammates to have the ball when the game is on the line.
That gift does come with heavy consequences, however.
With the score tied and 31 seconds left against Utah State last Saturday, Moore began his downhill sprint into the paint.
But that’s as far as he got.
He slipped, fell to the ground and watched the ball roll out of bounds, setting up Utah State to take the lead on the next possession and win the game 75-74.
“It’s a huge responsibility to be the go-to guy on your team and Omari does carry that burden,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles. “What a supercool opportunity, but also if you make a mistake or things don’t go well you feel like you’ve let your team down.”
If Moore was able to complete his drive and score, it would’ve given the Spartans their most wins in Mountain West play since the 2016-17 season. Add monumental upset to the mix too, as Utah State (16-4, 5-2 MW) entered at No. 33 in the NET, was ranked 95 spots higher than SJSU (12-8, 3-4 MW).
What added to the brutality of Moore’s spill is that a similar situation played out against Boise State a few weeks ago.
With the score tied at 64 and 32 seconds remaining, Moore airmailed a pass meant for power forward Robert Vaihola under the rim.
To pour salt in the wound, Moore watched Marcus Shaver Jr. drill a wicked step back three over him to win the game.
Not to go unmentioned were his 18 second half points, which helped rally SJSU back from a 14-point deficit in the first place. In the end, the bucket that he didn’t score made the difference.
The dichotomy was in full effect.
“We are moving in the right direction, but we want to play winning basketball,” said Miles. “We’ve had two of the top teams in the conference, two of the top 35 teams in the NET in the country, right down to the buzzer.”
The last time SJSU beat two of the top 35 teams in the NET – there wasn’t even a NET to speak of.
History would’ve been made.
Being called upon to deliver in the biggest moments of a game is a role Moore only started fulfilling a year ago.
He didn’t play varsity until his senior year at Pasadena High School and was more facilitator than difference-maker. If the Bulldogs needed a big shot to win it, Moore was more likely to set a screen for the game-winning shot than take it.
For Moore, the new role, responsibility and added pressure is “a lot but I’m OK with it,” he said, “I talk to one of my assistant coaches a lot and what he always says is, ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown.’”
That crown only sits heavy atop Moore because of what he has been able to do.
Last season, he led the Spartans in points (13.2), rebounds (5.5) and assists (4.6) and was two assists shy of a triple-double in SJSU’s near Mountain West tournament upset over Fresno State a year ago in overtime.
And it was his game-tying, last second bucket over Orlando Robinson which forced overtime in the first place.
With a clutch 19-point second half performance (24 overall) against Santa Clara and a 29-point game against Colorado State, there’s no one else who’s vying for the spot.
“He’s the guy we want to go to. His teammates want to go to him,” said Miles.
And when he fell down against Utah State, co-captain Alvaro Cardenas was right there to pick him up.
“I was just telling him, ‘keep going, we need you on defense. Change your face right now, let’s get a stop, let’s trust our defense,” said Cardenas, who missed a potential game-tying three from the same spot where he consoled Moore on the following possession.
Those brief words of encouragement from Cardenas gave Moore necessary and immediate reassurance.
“Stuff like that is always important,” said Moore. “Knowing that your team believes in you and your coaching staff believes in you even when you’re making mistakes.”
Because the reality of the situation is that Moore wasn’t the only making mistakes. Be it allowing Utah State to shoot 8-for-13 (61.5%) from three in the second half or SJSU going 1-for-10 from three in the first half against Boise State.
But with that comes the dangerous inevitably of playing the ‘what if?’ game.
“Even throughout the whole game, looking at different things like, ‘What if we made this free throw? What if we got this box out? What if we got this stop?’” said Moore.
What if, what if, what if …
Miles, who’s lost 361 games since becoming a coach in 1995 knows how the ‘what if’ game could be the most dangerous game.
“If you start playing that game with winning and losing like the last few games you’ll go crazy,” said Miles.
Despite the recent heartbreaks, Moore smiled when asked if he’d still want the ball if SJSU was tied with Air Force at 70-70 this Tuesday night.
“Of course,” said Moore. “One mistake isn’t going to take my confidence away from having the ball at the end of the game.”
The way Cardenas replied to the same hypothetical, one would’ve thought Moore sunk the game-winners against Utah State and Boise State.
“Always. We trust him to make that shot. He’s our guy,” said Cardenas.
“That’s the beauty in sports.”