By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter | Junior guard Will McClendon makes a play against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 17 (photo by Nick Orozco – Co-Executive Editor of The Spear)
A strong start to the first half is not enough to propel the Spartans (1-5) ahead of the Trojans (4-1) as they fall 82-68.
“We just had a tough spell at the end of the first half and another one at the beginning of the second half,” head coach Tim Miles said in a video posted to the athletics website. “Those things together was around a 14-0 run.”
Senior guard Josh Uduje was SJSU’s leading scorer with a season-high 25 points while shooting 8 of 12 from the field, 5 for 5 from the three point line and 4 for 4 from the free throw line.
Uduje played 36 minutes which was the most on the team and this marks the second straight game Uduje has scored over 20 points.
Junior guard Will McClendon was second on the team in points scored with a career-high 18 points. McClendon showed off his passing ability, racking up four assists. The scoring offense has been running through McClendon and Uduje the first six games of the season and the issue has been finding someone else to score consistently.
Sophomore guard Latrell Davis got his first start of the season and scored eight points with two assists and three rebounds.
Davis most likely started due to an injury to graduate student center Chol Marial which caused Miles to move junior forward Sadraque NgaNga to the bench to have some size in the team rotations.
The Trojans dominated in points scored off of the bench scoring 54 points from their second unit compared to the 11 points from the Spartans.
Nine of these points came from graduate student forward Sadaidriene Hall as he scored 9 points and as well as grabbing three rebounds.
The biggest reason for this gap was that graduate student forward Terrance Williams II and graduate student guard Chibuzo Agbo both played 27-plus minutes off the bench. Williams and Agbo both scored a team leading 20 points.
Junior center Robert Vaihola led the team with nine rebounds while also dishing out four assists.
The Spartans have battled through a tough early schedule and now are dealing with injuries to Marial and junior center Adrame Diongue that leaves Vaihola as their only traditional center currently healthy on the roster.
SJSU will hope to bounce back against University of Texas El-Paso (3-1) as game one of the Ball Dawgs Classic begins on Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m.
