After enjoying a short holiday break, San Diego State (7-4) turns its focus to its Mountain West schedule, a long journey filled with tough road trips and landmines. Next up, a Bay Area road trip at San Jose State (5-7). Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm Tuesday and can be watched on CBS Sports Network.
Due to a lack of signature wins and a loss to Troy during the out-of-conference schedule, SDSU has put themselves in a position where they must string together wins in the Mountain West to have any chance at an NCAA tournament bid. It also means avoiding losses that will kill any at-large hopes.
San Jose State is one of those potential at-large bid killers. The Spartans were feeling good about themselves after back to back wins over USD and Long Beach State. But now they’ve dropped two in a row, a close lose to Bay Area foe Stanford, and their most recent loss at the hands of New Mexico in the Pit over a week ago.
Here are 3 things you should know about San Jose State.
Same Old New Faces
I love analytics. The KenPom website has a ranking for team continuity, which measures the percentage of a team’s minutes played by the same players from the previous season.
San Diego State ranks 10th.
San Jose State ranks 217th.
Only 3 Spartans played for San Jose State last season: starter Jermaine Washington and bench players Sadraque NgaNga and Pasha Goodarzi. Aztec Latrell Davis transferred from San Jose State and is redshirting this season.
Coach Tim Miles has the difficult task of revamping his roster every season, as better programs with more NIL money poach his best talent. What Miles can offer is playing time, bringing in 2 impactful transfers from low-major programs to lead his squad.
Junior guard Colby Garland transferred from Longwood and has been the offensive engine:
19 ppg, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 43% 3P%, 81% FT%
Senior forward Yaphet Moundi transferred from Iona and has been the muscle:
13 ppg, 8 rebounds, 50% FG%, 5 double-double games.
Defenseless
While San Jose State has an average offense, their weakness is defense. The Spartans rank 294th in defensive efficiency. They struggle to defend the paint or the three-point line. When an opponent drives into the paint, the Spartans don’t have a rim protector like Magoon Gwath to challenge shots.
San Jose State’s lineup is one of the shortest in D1. They rank 336th in height, with 5 of their 10-man rotation 6’4″ or smaller. The Spartans also rank 332nd out of 365 D1 schools in their opponents’ offensive rebounding percentage. While SDSU got dominated by Arizona in this category, the Aztecs need to pay it forward to San Jose State and crash the offensive boards on missed shots.
The Aztecs should also capitalize on posting up the smaller Spartan lineup. A double post or high-low action could be very effective against the Spartans.
The one defensive area San Jose excels at, like the Aztecs, is turning teams over. Smaller, quick Spartan guards with active hands are a problem for bigger players handling the ball on the perimeter. It will be a premium to keep the ball in the hands of sure-handed Aztec guards and limit the dribbling by bigs, or turnovers are likely.
Close Calls
The Spartans have given the Aztecs plenty of scares over the past 2 seasons. SDSU escaped with 3-point victories both home and away last year. In 2024, a block by Jay Pal saved the Aztecs from a tournament résumé-crushing defeat on the road.
This game against San Jose State presents a similar challenge: a team on paper the Aztecs should beat by double digits, but Coach Miles has a track record of getting his team to play up against the Aztecs and make it close games.
Latrell Davis emerged from the shadows as a star against the Aztecs last season to the point Coach Dutcher recruited him over to SDSU from the transfer portal for this season. Will another version of Davis step up for the Spartans and keep Aztec fans nervously pacing in their living rooms?
If recent history is any indicator, it may be an anxious evening for Aztec Nation.
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