By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Photo via Jake Barger of SJSU Athletics
Omari Moore sat at the podium minutes after guiding San Jose State to its first Mountain West upset of the Tim Miles era. The sweat-drenched jersey worn by Moore during his 20-point second half performance in SJSU’s recent upset over Utah State was replaced with a black “We miss you” Kobe Bryant graphic tee shirt.
“Proof in the pudding that we are here with the rest of the Mountain West,” Moore said with a confident, but calm tone after scoring 27 points.
Backing up Moore’s statement starts Tuesday night in the Sin City where a win over UNLV would clinch SJSU’s first winning season since 2010-11 and just the third of the 21st century.
SJSU, now in the top 100 of Kenpom had proven it wasn’t the team who never finished higher than 214 since the 2010-11 season and in the bottom 300 in three of the last four seasons. However, prior to Saturday night it lacked a win that made a top Mountain West foe nervous.
Sure SJSU had won five Mountain West games prior, but had lost to all of the five staunch teams sitting above them in the standings.
While SJSU had lost in the final seconds to Utah State and Boise State, they’d lost to New Mexico, San Diego State and Nevada by an average of 22.67 points. All of which were decided by halftime.
“I feel like it’s just the beginning for us,” said Moore following the win over Utah State who was ranked No. 33 in the NET at the time.
To begin the season of heightened expectations, SJSU plays a team that’s linked to an early beginning of its historic rise.
Back on Dec. 28 of last year, SJSU beat UNLV in overtime to clinch not only its first Mountain West play opening win, but also its first ever winning record in conference play, too.
Fresh off its best non-conference finish since 1980-81, it wasn’t a complete shock and similar outcomes were to be expected, but it was unclear how often they’d come. Especially since the Mountain West was had the fifth-best conference NET ranking among the 32 Division I conferences entering that week.
Sure UNLV was incredible, having celebrated an 11-1 non-conference finish — its best in three decades — but its two leading scorers were caught in the clutches of a cold and unforgiving winter storm.
Keshon Gilbert and Elijah Harkless were no different than other Americans who’s traveling plans were cruelly rearranged during this past holiday season.
Unable to make it to Las Vegas to travel with the team, Gilbert flew into SJSU hours before tip-off on his own and Harkless, who had been in Southern California for Christmas Break made the hours long commute from San Bernardino to UNLV a day before the Runnin’ Rebels flew out.
Come game time, it took Harkless a half to warm up, eventually finding his footing scoring 18 points in the second half to finish with 20, but Gilbert went just 3-for-13 for a lowly six points.
SJSU’s path to victory was made easier, but since then they’ve proven it was no fluke. Moreover, that path of victory used has been traveled on time and time again.
Where SJSU lacked in three-point shooting, it made up for with defense and rebounding.
They held UNLV to a 44% mark from the field and outrebounded the Runnin’ Rebels 49-35 and 16-8 on the offensive end. Power forward Robert Vaihola claimed 13 of the 49 total rebounds, five of the 16 offensive boards while finishing with nine points.
Since then, SJSU is third-best in the conference holding opponents to a 42% mark from the field and SJSU’s 8.0 rebounding margin is best in the conference and eighth-best nationwide.
And it was the same formula SJSU used in its most recent win over Utah State.
The Spartans held the Aggies to a 42% mark from the field and outrebounded them 36-27 and 14-6 on the offensive end. True to form, SJSU shot 4-for-18 (22%) from beyond the arc.
Phenomenal rebounding, hard-nosed defense, plus nuclear nights from Moore will be the key not only Tuesday night, but each night going forward.
All in the name of keeping proof in the pudding when they return to Thomas & Mack Center on March 8 with sights set on claiming its first ever win in the Mountain West Tournament.