Feb. 29, 2016
SPARTANS GO FOR A SWEEP OF WYOMING ON WEDNESDAYIt was a memorable night for San José State when it beat Wyoming earlier this season at home. But it's a guarantee that Wyoming remembers that night as well, and will be out to avenge the loss on Wednesday, which is also senior night. Josh Adams has been virtually unstoppable this season, except for one night in San Jose when he was held to what is still his season-low, 10 points. Adams and company will stand in the Spartans' way when they try and sweep the Cowboys Wednesday night. Tipoff on the Mountain West Network is set for 7:00 p.m. (MT).Game #29San José State (8-20, 3-13 MW) at Wyoming (13-17, 6-11 MW)Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 7:00 p.m. (MT)Arena-Auditorium (11,445)Laramie, Wyo.WATCH: MW Digital NetworkLISTEN: Stretch Internet RadioSPARTNS GO FLAT AT UTAH STATEA common theme for the Spartans throughout the last couple of games has been hanging tough with their opponent for a certain amount of time before going flat. Ivo Basor's three with 6:08 left in the first half gave SJSU the 31-29 advantage. But the Aggies answered right back with a three of their own to regain the lead, and the Spartans would never see the lead again. San José State went scoreless over the final 4:08 of the first period, and hit just one bucket throughout the first eight minutes of the second. Utah State shot 55.1 percent for the game and ran away with an 88-70 win.SPARTRANS HAVE LARGEST SCORING TURNAROUND IN THE LEAGUESan José State is averaging 70.7 points per game heading into Wednesday's game at Wyoming. That's a difference of 17.0 points per game compared to last year, giving SJSU the largest scoring improvement in the league. All 11 Mountain West teams are scoring more points than they did a year ago. Nevada at +15.6 and New Mexico at +15.2 are the other most improved scoring teams after the Spartans.TRIAL BY FIRESan José State's four true freshmen: Ryan Welage, Cody Schwartz, Brandon Clarke and Jaycee Hillsman have combined to account for 44.2 percent of the team's scoring in 2015-16. That is by far the highest percentage of points scored by true freshmen among all Mountain West teams, with UNLV next at 31.0 percent. Among top-25 teams, only Kentucky at 48.5 percent, has gotten more scoring production from true freshmen than San José State.LAST MEETING WITH WYOMINGSan José State picked up its first Mountain West win of the season, 62-55, against Wyoming earlier this year on January 13. Gary Williams, Jr., led the way with 18 points for San José State, which held Wyoming's Josh Adams to a season-low 10 points. Brandon Clarke's defense down the stretch was a big key to SJSU's victory. As one of many defenders SJSU threw at Adams that night Clarke forced the league's leading scorer to commit two huge turnovers in critical moments. San José State put the game away with good free throw shooting, one of the only good free throw shooting games of the year for SJSU. The win was also significant at the time because it marked the first conference victory at home for San José State since joining the Mountain West prior to the 2013-14 season.SERIES HISTORYSan José State is 2-7 all-time versus the Wyoming Cowboys. The two programs first met in January of 1965. Earlier this year, SJSU came out on top 62-55, marking the first of three Mountain West wins at home this season. The other Spartan victory came on February 22, 1997, at home by a score of 67-62. Last year's game in Laramie ended with a 77-60 Wyoming victory. Josh Adams scored a season-high 26 points that night, which would be just a pedestrian total for him this year.THE STAGE WILL BE SET FOR ADAMS ON SENIOR NIGHTWyoming is a tough enough place to play given the altitude at an NCAA high 7,220 feet. And Wednesday night, the energy inside Arena-Auditorium will probably seem even higher than the altitude as senior point guard Josh Adams will play for the final time in front of the home crowd. Adams is the Mountain West's leading scorer (24.8 ppg) and perhaps the most exciting player to watch. He's had nine 30-point games this year, including in two of the last three. Wednesday is senior night, and also the last game of the regular season for the Cowboys who have a bye next week.SPARTANS LET AZTECS RUN AWAY WITH 78-56 WINSimilar to the first meeting, San José State was step-for-step with the first-place San Deigo State Aztecs into the second half. Unlike the first meeting where SDSU slowly pulled away for the victory, the Aztecs went on a 21-4 run that put the Spartans away for good midway through the second period. During the run, the Aztecs pushed the lead from 10 to 22 in less than three minutes of game time. San José State erased an early 14-point deficit with some hot three-point shooting from Cody Schwartz, and Frank Rogers gave SJSU the momentum when he tied the game 36-36 with a ferocious dunk near the 15 minute mark in the second half. But from there, it was all SDSU.COME AND CELEBRATE THE SENIORS!San José State will honor three seniors: Ivo Basor, Princeton Onwas and Frank Rogers before playing in the final home game of their Spartan careers on March 5, versus Boise State. Be sure and show up to The Event Center early enough before the 2:00 p.m. tipoff to be a part of the pregame ceremony.TOURNAMENT TIMEThere are only two regular season games left for the Spartans before the Mountain West Championship Tournament begins on March 9 in Las Vegas. If the season ended today, SJSU would be playing in the 4:00 p.m. game on Wednesday, March 9, against the No. 6 seed. The Spartans want to see you in Las Vegas during the tournament! Contact the Spartan Ticket Office today to purchase tickets to the championship and find out more information on single-game and all-session ticket information.