By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter (photo by Kalkidan Tessema – Spear Photographer)
SJSU men’s basketball head coach Tim Miles described the Spartans (0-1) 59-55 loss to Western Illinois (1-0) as a disappointing night.
“I was disappointed in myself not having these guys in fighting form,” Miles said. “I didn’t have us in that mentality we needed to be in.”
SJSU lost the rebounding battle 35-28 and allowed 26 points in the paint while only scoring 14.
On top of that SJSU shot 19% from 3-point-range.
“Figuring out what we are going to do scheme wise I think on offense is really important to do as soon as possible because it has not been effective,” Miles said.
Despite all of this, the Spartans trailed by just one point in the final minute of the game.
SJSU junior forward Rob Vaihola came up with a steal with 19 seconds left but then had his pass stolen by Western Illinois senior guard Sean Smith, effectively ending the game.
Smith scored 11 points and tallied up seven assists.
Vaihola also led the Spartans with seven rebounds.
Another standout performance for the Leathernecks came from senior guard Ryan Myers. Myers scored 11 points in the game.
“He’s a really crafty player,” Miles said. “He’s got a savviness to his game and Myers is really tough too. Both were tough to coach and scheme against.”
SJSU senior guard Josh Uduje was tied with junior guard Will McClendon for a team leading 13 points. Uduje also grabbed 5 rebounds and was 7-9 from the free-throw line.
McClendon and Uduje both utilized driving to the paint to score the bulk of their points.
“We were just taking reads off the pick and roll,” McClendon said. “They were in drop so we were able to take advantage of that.”
The Spartans have a roster of 12 new players and Uduje said he feels they are still working out the kinks.
“We are still figuring out each other’s personalities and tendencies on the floor,” Uduje said. This isn’t anything to be worried about as a team, it’s just us learning each other.”
Uduje said he wants to make sure the Spartans can regroup and play up to their full potential.
“If you are taking the positive out of this, it’s good we learned this in our first game,” Uduje said. “So we can experience this and go through our emotions and build upon them for the next game.”
SJSU men’s basketball will have to put this behind them as the Spartans head to Honolulu Hawaii for the Outrigger Rainbow Classic which is a basketball tournament where they will play three games.
The Spartans’ first game is scheduled against Pacific College (1-0) at 6:30 p.m PST on Saturday in Honolulu.
