By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Photo courtesy of SJSU Athletics via Ava Miles
The soul-sinking frustration of letting his teammates down weighed heavily on SJSU wing, Trey Anderson. That meant sacrificing his spot in the starting five and come off the bench for the Spartans.
“I was so down … I was really willing to do whatever the team needed me to do,” Anderson recalled after being shutout in 13 minutes during SJSU’s loss to Utah State on Jan. 21.
That moment didn’t arrive for Anderson, but at long last, his shot did.
Anderson’s 19-point performance against UNLV last Tuesday helped SJSU clinch its first winning season in over a decade and gave reassurance that he belonged a starter despite his prior struggles.
“It’s a great feeling not only for me, but for my team to put the trust back into those guys,” Anderson said with relief and a wide grin. “Letting them know, ‘I’m right here with you guys, I’m going to fight with you guys until the end.’” His 19 points tied a season-high and his five three-pointers tied a career-high.
His 14-point first half on 4-for-5 shooting from three kept the team afloat as SJSU’s leading man Omari Moore was held scoreless on an 0-for-8 clip from the field.
“We don’t win against UNLV if he doesn’t have that kind of game,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles.
Anderson combined with fellow wing Tibet Gorener for 31 points on 8-for-15 (53%) shooting from beyond the arc. The most points and three-pointers they’ve combined for in a game this season.
Not showing up in the boxscore is bearable for Anderson.
What he can’t bear is feeling like his shooting woes are burdening the team. He’s one reason the Spartans have the second-lowest three point percentage in the Mountain West at 34%.
After scoring nine points against UNLV in SJSU’s Mountain West opener on Dec. 28, Anderson had a seven game stretch where he scored at least three points once and didn’t hit a three in six of those games.
“Knowing that I have so much more to give is the most frustrating part. I have way more to give to give to my team than I’ve been giving,” said Anderson, who’d shot 26% from three in conference play before last Tuesday.
Before Tuesday, Anderson had logged double figures just once since scoring at least 11 points in all three of SJSU’s bouts in the Baha Mar Hoops Tournament. Over that 17 game stretch he shot 29% from three and didn’t making a single three in 64% of those contests.
Anderson, a native of San Diego, felt he “turned a corner” while playing in front of friends and family at San Diego State’s Viejas Arena on Jan. 28.
“Before the San Diego State game, I don’t think I’ve smiled during a game throughout a five game stretch. So just being able to smile with my family and friends there as well. Honestly just brought the excitement back,” said Anderson, who knocked down two triples en route to scoring eight points.
Anderson cracked more smiles after following up with 10 points in SJSU’s throttling of Wyoming, but didn’t have anything to smile about three days later after shooting 1-for-5 from the field and 0-for-2 from three in a disappointing loss to Fresno State.
While it was regularly contemplated and even brought up once, Miles was ready to take Anderson out and insert SJSU’s other true wing Tibet Gorener into his spot against Utah State.
“I just didn’t do it,” Miles recalled, “and then another time I thought about doing it Tibet [Gorener] got sick and had COVID and was out.”
The window of opportunity was just enough for Anderson to knock down two of his four attempts from three and score seven points against Utah State and keep himself in the starting lineup long enough to have the breakthrough he’d been desiring.
What ultimately kept Miles from pulling the trigger was his valuing of consistency—SJSU is one of seven teams nationwide to use the same starting lineup for every game—and how Anderson reacted when his shots weren’t falling.
“I kept him in there because of his work ethic and who he is character wise everyday,” said Miles.
That relentlessness to fight and persevere comes from an adolescence spent listening to the struggles of his family around him;
“When my grandpa was a teacher hearing a student talk to him ‘this way’ and he had to approach it ‘this way.’ Hearing my grandma fall and she’s struggling,” said Anderson. “Hearing my dad struggle at work, hearing my mom struggle at work and hearing my sister struggle at school and sports as well.”
“It’s crazy to me, some days my mom sits at a computer all day answering phone calls all day. She comes home and cooks and goes grocery shopping.”
Anderson sliced and sauteed each sliver of struggle and baked into a mindset rooted in “I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do.”
None more relevant than when he had to play center for two-and-a-half months last year while seven-footer Ibrahima Diallo was injured.
“I respect him because he was willing to take on those mismatches when he was playing the center,” said Miles. “Yet, he was battling his butt off trying to help his team win.”
Anderson’s road of proving if what happened in Las Vegas will stay in Las Vegas begins in San Jose against New Mexico.
When the teams last meant at ‘The Pit’ Anderson found himself at the lowest point of his bottomless pit of shooting woes. He went 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-5 from three as the Lobos blew the Spartans out 77-57.
Four days later came Anderson’s contemplation of self-sacrifice against Utah State.
For Anderson, the words ‘New Mexico’ don’t strike up an urge for vengeance.
“I’m not even gonna think about the past,” said Anderson.