Feb. 24, 2017
MEN'S HOOPS VISITS BOISE STATE ON SATURDAYSan José State hits the road this weekend to Boise State for the second meeting of the year with the Broncos. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. (MT) on the Mountain West Network and will also be streamed live on Twitter. Fans can also catch Justin Allegri's play-by-play call on KLIV 1590 AM.Game #27San José State (14-12, 7-8 MW) at Boise State (17-9, 10-5 MW)Saturday, February 25, 2017, 2:00 p.m. (MT)Taco Bell Arena (12,480)Boise, IdahoTV: Mountain West NetworkRadio: KLIV 1590 AMLIVE ON TWITTER: #SJSUvsBOISEOFF THE TOPSan José State is in search of its first victory on the road at Boise State in its 16th attempt ... SJSU's Brandon Clarke and BSU's Chandler Hutchison are both top-five scorers in the Mountain West during league play ... Brandon Clarke is averaging 20.0 points in three career games against Boise State ... Boise State defeated San José State 75-65 earlier this year on Jan. 21 in San Jose ... Spartans Guard E.J. Boyce calls Boise, Idaho his hometown ... A win for the Spartans would be the 15th of the season, a mark which the program has reached just three times in the last 23 years.WELAGE COMES IN HOTSophomore forward Ryan Welage comes into Saturday having scored in double figures in seven consecutive games and 10 of the last 11. He was the team's leading scorer with 20 points in SJSU's most recent game versus Utah State (2/22). He also dropped a team-high 20 points in San José State's win on the road at New Mexico (2/4). Welage is shooting 48.2 percent (27-56) from the floor in the last five games when he is averaging 14.2 points per game.LAST MEETING WITH BOISE STATEDespite a game-high 26 points from Brandon Clarke, the Spartans suffered a 75-65 loss to Boise State in the first meeting this season. It was a wire-to-wire win for the Broncos who got 17 points from David Wacker and 15 points from Chandler Hutchison as two of four double-figure scorers. Clarke came out and hit his first eight shots for the Spartans, but the team shot just 35.4 percent in the second period of the loss.SERIES HISTORY WITH THE BRONCOSBoise State has a commanding 29-3 lead in the all-time series and San José State is in search of its first win in Boise. Last year's win over the Broncos on Senior Night snapped an eight-game slide and was just the second win since 2002. Taco Bell Arena has not been kind to San José State the last two trips with losses of 50 points (86-36) in 2015 and 25 points (94-69) in 2016.CLARKE VS. BOISE STATEBrandon Clarke is averaging 20.0 points and 8.8 rebounds with a pair of double-doubles in three career games against Boise State. Last year Clarke scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the matchup at Boise State, then led the Spartans with 21 points in the win over the Broncos on Senior Night to end last year's regular season. Earlier this season in the January 21 meeting with Boise State, Clarke dropped a game-high 26 points.CLARKE VS. HUTCHISONSpartan fans are familiar with the All-Mountain West level of play from Brandon Clarke this season and Boise State fans can say exactly the same of Broncos' leading scorer Chandler Hutchison. Both players are top-five in scoring during Mountain West play with Clarke third at 20.0 ppg and Hutchison fifth at 18.3. At 8.9 rebounds per conference game Clarke has jumped up to third in the Mountain West while Hutchison is close behind in sixth at 8.1 rebounds per MW contest. While both players have had some similar success in scoring and rebounding they also have some very different strengths. Hutchison is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point land with 22 splashes from downtown, while Clarke has made just one three in his entire career. Clarke though is the league's leading shot blocker averaging 2.9 swats per game, while Hutchison has blocked six shots all year long.CHASING WIN NUMBER 15When Boise State and San José State met earlier this season the notes was Spartans on the cusp of win number 10. Fast forward to Saturday's game and SJSU is looking to pick up regular season win number 15 which the program has accomplished just three times in the last 23 years. The 2010-11 Spartans were the most recent group to win 15 regular season games, and they advanced to the semifinal round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and later the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
MOST CONFERENCE WINS SINCE '95-96San José State's comeback victory over Air Force on Feb. 18 was the seventh Mountain West win of the year. It gives SJSU the most conference wins since the 1995-96 season when the team went 9-9 in Big West play. That same team went on to win the Big West Tournament and make SJSU's most recent of three (1951, 1980, 1996) NCAA Tournament appearances.SPARTANS HANDLED BY UTAH STATESan José State got 15 second-half points from Ryan Welage, but it wasn't enough as the Spartans lost 81-75 to Utah State at home to begin the week. Welage finished with a team-high 20 points but the hot shooting (54.9%) of Utah State was too much. The Aggies were also hot at the free throw line, hitting 19-of-20. It was the first road win during Mountain West play for Utah State.
SPARTANS RALLY FROM 13 DOWN TO BEAT AIR FORCESan José State came back to win its fourth game of the season after trailing by double-digits when it erased a 13-point deficit to beat Air Force 83-78 in overtime. SJSU trailed 41-28 at halftime and 63-54 with 7:13 left in the second half. The comeback was fueled by career scoring highs for Isaac Thornton (17) and Brandon Mitchell (12). All of their points came in the second half, and Brandon Clarke added 22 points and 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the year.MITCHELL AND THORNTON FUEL COME BACKIsaac Thornton and Brandon Mitchell combined for 29 points after halftime and provided the spark SJSU needed to comeback and beat Air Force. Both players converted traditional three-point plays down the stretch of the second half, and Mitchell drained the biggest 3-pointer of his career in overtime. The Falcons made consecutive baskets to start overtime while the Spartans missed their first four shots. Right when it looked like SJSU was out of it, Mitchell banged the three to make it 74-73 Air Force lead. Thornton came up with a steal on the next Air Force possession, leading to a Brandon Clarke dunk which gave the Spartans the lead for good.