Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Provident Credit Union Event Center was devoid of ear-piercing screams bouncing off the walls and any San Jose State fan nervously gnawing on fingernails last Saturday night as time wound down between against Wyoming.
A lack of excitement and nerves normally meant SJSU was approaching another shameful loss.
Oh, how times have changed.
SJSU (14-9, 5-5 MW) led by at least 14 points for the final 9:28 of the game.
Heart rates only spiked when senior guard Omari Moore narrowly missed out on the first 30-point game of his career in the waning minutes.
Saturday’s 20-point romping gives SJSU a 4-1 home record in Mountain West play and 9-2 home record overall. It’s the most overall home wins since the Spartans won 10 in the 2016-17 season and matches the 2015-16 Spartans for the most Mountain West home wins in school history.
“We’ve really been able to protect the house,” said Moore, who exploded for 29 points on 5-for-10 shooting from three while adding six rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.
In Tim Miles’ second year as SJSU’s head coach, he’s helped turn Provident Credit Union Event Center from a house of straws into a house of bricks. He’s jokingly become tired from hearing about his disaster relief work.
After the game, Miles cracked a grin when SJSU play-by-play broadcaster Justin Allegri opened his postgame interview by mentioning it was the Spartans first win over the Cowboys since 2016.
“Is that what we are doing? The first again?” said a chuckling Miles.
Moore shared a similar sentiment after the game.
“It’s funny, after every game there’s like a new, ‘Oh San Jose is doing this for the first time,’” said Moore, who’s now the fifth leading scorer in the conference with 16.4 points per game.
Snapping the 12-game skid to the Cowboys Saturday night is the latest edition of ‘first in a long time or all time’ for the Spartans.
Their conference play-opening win over UNLV established their first time with a winning record in Mountain West play of all time. Which was followed up by taking down Colorado State for the first time in 23 all-time meetings where Miles coached for five seasons.
SJSU’s next conference win over Fresno State snapped an 11-game skid to the Bulldogs which was followed up with a 30-point throttling over Air Force at home, the largest margin of victory in a Mountain West game of all time.
The aftermath of the monumental firsts?
Blessing fans with the chest-tightening stress and anxiety which comes with watching meaningful Mountain West basketball in February.
“It’s my favorite month,” said Miles. “I love it. It’s really where you can make hay and get your team going and I think confident going into that big March push.”
Each of SJSU’s final eight games raises or lowers their odd of securing their first Mountain West tournament win in school history.
By this time in prior years, the dregs were an assumed position for SJSU’s tournament seeding.
But something even bigger is on the line.
If the Spartans go 3-5 to conclude the season, they’d finish .500, essentially granting them a postseason bid where they could notch their first postseason win in program history.
Might be saying to yourself, ‘Playoffs? We are talking about playoffs?’
Yes. We are talking about playoffs.
If you don’t believe it, there’s four opportunities left to see it for yourself at Provident Credit Union Event Center.
Chances are you’ll see something you’ve never seen or haven’t seen in quite some time.
“We are not so worried about what hasn’t been done,” said Moore. “We are trying to get payback on the rest of the Mountain West after what happened last year.”
