By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Managing Editor | Senior guard Josh Uduje drives against the Wyoming defense during SJSU’s 67-58 win on Jan. 25. (Photo by Denim Bragg – Freelance Photographer)
It was a rough night for San Jose State men’s basketball (12-13, 5-8 MW) and nothing seemed to go its way.
The last time these two teams faced each other Boise State won 73-71 after SJSU led by 12.
This time SJSU did not almost pull off a near-upset.
Boise State (17-7, 9-4 MW) improved to 10-1 on its home court in a 79-52 victory over SJSU.
The Spartans are now 0-23 on the road against Boise State in school history.
A familiar face showed up against the Spartans, senior guard Alvaro Cardenas had 16 points and nine assists. Cardenas spent the past three seasons playing for SJSU.
This was a much better showing then his performance against the Spartans in San Jose were he turned the ball over five times.
Once again the Spartans struggled to stop senior forward Tyson Degenhart who scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds. In their last matchup Degenhart scored 26 points.
Degenhart also shot 3-3 from 3-point range.
The big story of the game was the lack of scoring production from SJSU’s top scorers, senior guard Josh Uduje and sophomore guard Latrell Davis.
Uduje scored only eight points on 3-9 shooting. Davis finished the game as the Spartans leading scorer with 14 points however, he only scored three points in the first half and by the time he heated up it was too late.
The Spartans kept it close early in the first half but then the Broncos went on a 12-2 run and they would never hold the lead again.
A lack of three-point shooting hurt the Spartans as they shot 2-18 from beyond the arc. One of the two three’s was made by graduate student center Chol Marial and the other was made by Davis.
SJSU was also outrebounded 37-23.
San Jose State heads back home to face off against San Diego State (15-5, 8-3 MW) on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The last time these two teams faced off, SJSU blew a 21-point lead and SDSU won 71-68 in San Diego.
This time the Spartans have them at home where they have played much better basketball. The Spartans are 6-5 at home, 2-7 on the road and 4-1 at neutral sites.
The Spartans were also able to beat New Mexico (19-4, 11-1 MW) 71-70 at home, something no other team in the Mountain West has done.
