By Marissa Scott — Managing Editor
The San Jose State men’s basketball team remain winless in conference play after losing 81-63 to Utah State Wednesday night.
The Spartans (3-13, 0-4 MW) let turnovers haunt them again with 22 against the Aggies (13-5, 3-2 MW).
“Our biggest achilles heel is turning the ball over,” said head coach Jean Prioleau. “We are just forcing it and maybe trying to make the perfect play and that is getting us in trouble.”
At the beginning of the game, the Spartans came out hot and led 24-9 a little over half way through the first. Despite the strong start, the turnovers caused the lead to shrink and the Aggies were up 41-35 at the half.
Sophomore Noah Baumann played a major role in the first half success of the Spartans. The guard scored 21 points and was 6-7 in field goal attempts and 5-6 in three-point attempts.
The second half allowed Utah State to string along their lead. Although SJSU shot at 50 percent through the second, they continued to turn the ball over and missed six of their nine free-throw attempts.
The Aggies scored 24 points from turnovers and were first to the ball when the Spartans would try to pass.
“The turnovers are something that has been following us this whole season,” said freshman Seneca Knight. “We go into the game and try to keep it less than five, but we didn’t do that yet.”
Baumann finished the game with 7-three pointers and a career-high 29 points. The sophomore is one of three Spartans to hit seven in a single game in school history.
“I was just playing off of my teammates, they were doing what they do and I was doing what I do,” Baumann said. “It was cool, but we have to stop turning the ball over.”
With the help of Baumann, the Spartans shot a season-high 12 threes. They haven’t hit that feat since 2016 in a game where they also played Utah State.
With hopes of their first conference win of the season, the Spartans will travel to the Sin City to take on UNLV Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
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