By Mohamed Bafakih (@MohamedABafa ):
The Mountain West’s hottest team, Nevada, visits the conference’s coldest in San Jose State Wednesday night at the Event Center.
The Wolf Pack (16-3, 5-0 MW) are on the cusp of cracking a spot in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll as they received 23 votes in the latest rankings, respectively.
SJSU (3-14, 0-6 MW) meanwhile is the only school among the Power Five, Group of Five, Atlantic 10 and Big East conferences to have less than four wins on the season.
As SJSU continues to work on its inconsistencies a quarter of the way into Mountain West play, Nevada has dominated the conference on both sides of the floor.
Newcomer and North Carolina State transfer Caleb Martin leads the pack alongside Jordan Caroline, Cody Martin (twin brother of Caleb) and Kendall Stephens, who all are double-figure scorers.
Caleb Martin is the conference’s third leading scorer (19.7 ppg), while Caroline (17.2) is ninth and Stephens is 10th (17 ppg).
Their combined average of 53.9 points in MW play is just 7.3 points less than what the Spartans as a team score per game.
What makes the four players above a tough matchup on both ends is they are all 6-foot-7 and can switch everything which is why they start.
Nevada’s point guard Lindsey Drew is a big guard that can switch on wings at 6-foot-4 — and he too is scoring in double figures during conference play (10.4 ppg) — while leading the team in blocks with seven.
Though SJSU’s defense has kept it in games, its best chance of matching up with Nevada’s pace is a lineup of Jalen James, Noah Baumann or Jaycee Hillsman, Ryan Welage, Brandon Mitchell and Keith Fisher.
This will be the Spartans’ first of two nationally televised game at home this season as CBS Sports Network will carry the broadcast.
Game tips off at 7:30 p.m.
