Matt’s Monday Mailbag: Dissecting SJSU basketball’s late-game woes
SJSU reporter Matt Weiner answers your questions
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Let’s talk ball
Hello and welcome to Matt’s Monday Mailbag™ your go-to destination for all pressing SJSU men’s basketball matters.
Enough chit-chat. Let’s get into it.
Ricky Delgado @RickyDe70535587 “We’re blowing leads left and right and a much better team than our record indicates. Just frustrating seeing how we’re in games or dominating them, and then we blow it. It reminds me a lot of the first half of football season actually. Hoping for a similar kind of turnaround.”
I understand the comparison between SJSU men’s basketball and football. Both teams have conceded leads in games it should’ve won. But when football plummeted to 1-5 this year, it had the luxury of knowing an easier schedule lay ahead – SJSU men’s basketball doesn’t.
For SJSU to clinch a .500 record for CBI eligibility, it must go 9-7 in a slate that features eight games against opponents in the top-35 of the NET. So it’s a case of extremely difficult, but not impossible. Although it could trend toward the latter if Boise State (No. 70 in NET), UNLV (No. 112 in NET) and Wyoming (No.192 in NET) all improve.
Ricky Delgado @RickyDe70535587 “We might have to run two big lineups (to aid with rebounding). DJ [Diogo Seixas] and Will [William Humer] can shoot a little bit so the floor may not necessarily shrink in doing that. The only issue would with that would be center depth, but if we could make it work somehow I think it could help us out.”
If you’re looking to improve rebounding, I’m not sure a Humer and Seixas combo lineup is the best way to go. Humer’s 2.5 rebounds per game is the sixth-most on SJSU and Seixas’ 1.2 rebounds per game is 11th-most.
Therefore, when opting in for a two big lineup, I think seven-footer Adrame Diongue must be the constant and its Humer and Seixas ping-ponging in and out.
It's his paint! @15Diongue
SJSU 40 BSU 35
📺 @FS1#AllSpartans pic.twitter.com/W2lkGw1VLM— San Jose State Men’s Basketball (@SanJoseStateMBB) January 6, 2024
Andrew Hartley @AndrewHart1ey “At the end of the Boise game, Miles took out [Adrame] Diongue for Garrett Anderson because of free-throw shooting. But do you think extended versions of such a small ball lineup could help SJSU?”
In times of a rut – yes.
Take last Friday for example. SJSU was up nine with 10 minutes left and ended up losing by nine. This hard-to-watch final stretch saw SJSU fail to score a single field goal in the final five minutes as Boise State’s O’mar Stanley dominated his way toward a 30-point 11-rebound double-double.
I understand why Miles chose to keep a tight rotation with at least one big in. Too much tinkering could lead to dastardly high levels of discombobulation.
But at a certain point, when things are going bad, maybe the best way to reverse fortune is saying, ‘ah, to hell with it’ and see what guards Garret Anderson or Latrell Davis could do alongside guard Alvaro Cardenas, MJ Amey and wings Trey Anderson and Tibet Gorener.
Ricky Delgado @RickyDe70535587 “MJ [Amey] balled out and I feel the worst for him. My biggest fear is after this season if it doesn’t go as well as they like, that MJ, Al [Alvaro Cardenas] and some of the other guys jump ship and look elsewhere.”
I’m very curious to see how their situations shake out because right now it seems like they could leave SJSU if a Power Five school were to come knocking. Few could blame either one for wanting to put themselves in the best position possible for their post-NCAA endeavors.
To maintain optimism, I’d consider reflecting back to Omari Moore. He had opportunities to leave SJSU for a Power Five after the 2021-22 season but he chose to stay because he knew it was the best path for him. Now that he’s suiting up in the G-League I’d say he made the right choice.
“You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him”
Superstars shine bright when the lights are on, @AmeyMyron with 30 points on @FS1 #AllSpartans pic.twitter.com/LSrtAHt7fY
— San Jose State Men’s Basketball (@SanJoseStateMBB) January 7, 2024
Ricky Delgado @RickyDe70535587 “We can fill it up in the scoring column, but man we have a giant hole in the paint. Losing 3 players who led us in rebounding hurts. Idk how many second chance points Boise had or points in the paint, but it felt like it was over 50 for-sure. Idk if we can fix that during the season, but if they can’t it’s gonna be a long one.
You weren’t far off. Boise State scored 40 points in the paint compared to SJSU’s 32.
I’ll also push back on SJSU being able to “fill it up in the scoring column.” In the recent loss to Boise State, SJSU averaged 1.250 points per possession in the first half and .853 in the second half. In the Wyoming loss, the Spartans scored 1.382 points per possession in the first half , but .929 points per possession in the second half.
Therein lies the problem for SJSU: Its offensive dominance doesn’t carry over from one half to the next.
So forget the rebounding, this must improve first. The consequence if it doesn’t is just too costly.
