By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter | Josh Uduje (middle) looks at the court after being subbed out (photo by Nick Orozco – Co-Executive Editor of The Spear)
“Close but no cigar” is how San Jose State men’s basketball (1-4) head coach Tim Miles described the 64-59 loss to UC Santa Barbara (4-0).
Gauchos graduate student guard Stephan Swenson hit a huge three-pointer to give them a 63-59 lead with 20 seconds left in the game. This added to Swenson’s 15 points which was good for second on UCSB.
This shot came after junior center Rob Vaihola missed an inside layup that would have given the Spartans a 61-60 lead.
Gauchos senior guard Cole Anderson was their leading scorer and got all of his points from beyond the arc shooting 6-8 from deep totaling 18 points.
“They’ve got some great shooters wh (Anderson displayed) elite levels of shooting,” senior guard Josh Uduje said. “I think we did a good job outside of a few defensive lapses.”
Uduje was the Spartans leading scorer in the game with 22 points while also totaling seven rebounds.
Gauchos senior forward Kenny Pohto put up a double-double scoring 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“We wanted to aggravate Pohto with some double teams and then our rotations weren’t very good to Cole (Anderson),” Miles said. “Players make plays. You have to tip your hat and go figure out how to do other things better and find a way to win.”
In the first half the Spartans struggled to find help for Uduje as he scored 15 points and the next Spartans leading scorer was graduate guard Donovan Yap Jr. with three points.
Junior guard Will McClendon got going scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
With the physical presence that the Gauchos brought in the paint, Vaihola had a good game defensively and on the boards, grabbing nine rebounds which was a season high for him.
Graduate student center Chol Marial suffered an injury early in the second half and he would not return.
With junior center Adrame Diongue out, Marial’s injury meant SJSU had to finish the game with Vaihola as the only center.
“We had so much issue with size last year I figured we better have three or four centers,” Miles said. “Now we are down to one.”
It was a tough loss but UCSB is a good team and if the Spartans executed in a few different moments this game could have swung in their favor.
“We don’t do moral victories but, that’s usually a tournament team and we were right there,” McClendon said. “We don’t want to learn from too many losses but, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Spartans will travel to Los Angeles to face off against USC (3-0) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
