SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San José State men's basketball team enters the final week of the regular season with a 1 PM PT Saturday showdown at Colorado State.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS (7-20, 3-12 MW)
PPG: 70.9 | FG%: 39.5 | 3FG%: 30.2 | FT%: 71.7
Notes: Junior Richard Washington has been on a tear as of late. The lanky shooting guard has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games, including a career-best 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting at Air Force last weekend. The newcomer exploded on to the scene in the season-opener with 23 points in a win at Hofstra. He struggled with his shot until a 9-for-19 effort with a game-clinching three-pointer in a win against New Mexico on Jan. 1. The Wake Forest transfer is averaging 17.6 ppg over his last seven games.
COLORADO STATE RAMS (18-10, 9-6 MW)
PPG: 75.6 | FG%: 47.1 | 3FG%: 36.5 | FT%: 66.8
Series: SJSU is winless all-time vs. CSU, 0-19
Last: SJSU lost, 81-70, on Jan. 11, 2020 in San José
Notes: After a stretch where they won 8-of-9 league games, the Rams enter Saturday's contest losers of two out of the last three. CSU lost to Utah State at home, 75-72, defeated Wyoming, 77-70, and then lost at UNLV, 80-56. Tied with the Runnin' Rebels for fifth, Colorado State is looking to hang on to a first round bye in the Mountain West Tournament. Colorado State is the third-best shooting team in the league this season, shooting 47.1 percent as a group.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV - None
Stream - MW Digital Network at sjsuspartans.com/watch
Radio - Justin Allegri on the call through TuneIn.com and the TuneIn app. Search TuneIn for "San Jose St. Basketball".
LAST TIME AGAINST COLORADO STATE
- The Spartans lost to Colorado State, 81-70, in January.
- Sophomore guard Seneca Knight hit a three-pointer with 4:02 left to tie the game up, 64-64, but the Rams closed out on a 17-6 run to win.
- Knight had a team-high 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting with eight rebounds. Brae Ivey struggled to shoot (3-of-13) but finished with 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
- Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy each had 21 points to lead CSU while Nico Carvacho had 16 rebounds and eight points.
THE PROCESS
- After posting just one conference win in each of the last two seasons, the Spartans have improved this season.
- SJSU has three league wins with three Mountain West games remaining on the schedule.
- SJSU's best league record since joining the MW for the 2013-14 season, was a 7-11 mark in 2016-17. The Spartans won just two of their first eight league games that year but went 5-5 down the stretch.
SPARTANS GROUND AIR FORCE
- Led by five scorers in double figures, San José State defeated Air Force, 90-81, on Jan. 25 at the Event Center.
- The Spartans tallied a season-high 12 steals and matched a season-best with 13 made three-pointers.
- Omari Moore and Seneca Knight each came up just short of double-doubles. Moore posted nine points and a season-high 10 assists while Knight had 20 points and nine rebounds.
KNIGHT'S BIG NIGHT BEATS NEVADA
- Sophomore guard Seneca Knight scored a then-career-high 28 points as the Spartans defeated Nevada, 70-68, on Jan. 8.
- Knight drew a game-high eight fouls and went 8-of-12 at the free throw line. He was 8-of-17 shooting with four threes.
- The Spartans outscored the Wolf Pack, 24-12, at the free throw line which helped them overcome a poor shooting game. SJSU was just 8-of-33 from three-point range.
- The Spartans won their second league game of the season after going 2-34 in MW play over the previous two seasons.
- The win was SJSU's third straight at home, its longest home winning streak in three years.
SPARTANS ROAR BACK TO BEAT NEW MEXICO
- Junior Richard Washington hit a game-winning three-pointer, his seventh of the game, with eight seconds left to give SJSU its second-straight win over New Mexico, 88-85.
- New Mexico led by as much as 14 points in the first half while the Spartans led by as much as 18 in the second.
- Washington posted a career-high 25 points and a career-high seven three-pointers. He had made just six three-pointers over the previous 10 games.
- SJSU had runs of 14-0, 10-0 and 12-2 in the game while New Mexico had runs of 17-2 and 11-0.
- The victory was the highest NET/RPI win of head coach Jean Prioleau's career. New Mexico entered the game at No. 59 in the NCAA's NET rankings and dropped to 86.
SAN JOSE STATE POUNDS PEPPERDINE
- The Spartans snapped an eight-game losing streak with an 83-68 win over Pepperdine on Dec. 28.
- The Spartans turned the ball over a season-low seven times.
- Senior guard Brae Ivey tallied a career-high 23 points and hit a career-best five three-pointers.
- Sophomore guard Seneca Knight posted his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
SPARTANS COME UP JUST SHORT AT SANTA CLARA
- Down by as much as 17 points in the second half, the Spartans rallied back but the comeback fell short in an 89-85 loss at Santa Clara on Dec. 18.
- San José State scored 58 points in the second half after scoring just 26 in the first half.
- The Spartans had five players score in double figures for the first time since a win over Life Pacific on Nov. 7, 2018.
- Guard Zach Chappell tallied a career-high 20 points off the bench and dished out a team-high six assists.
- In his first career start, forward Ralph Agee posted 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
- SJSU outrebounded Santa Clara, 36-25.
HEARTBREAK AT SAN DIEGO STATE
- The Spartans suffered a heartbreaking loss at San Diego State on Dec. 8. Up by a point with five seconds remaining, the Spartans saw SDSU point guard Malachi Flynn hit a deep three-pointer at the buzzer for the win.
- Forward Ralph Agee posted his first double-double for the Spartans with 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
- The Spartans held SDSU to just 31.7 percent shooting.
- SJSU matched a season-low with 11 turnovers.
SPARTANS STYMIE GRAMBLING STATE
- Grambling State entered the game on Nov. 20 with the nation's No. 1 scoring offense, averaging 114 points over its first three games.
- The Spartans held the Tigers 38 points under their average in an 83-76 win at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
- Grambling State was 1-of-10 shooting on three-pointers.
BALANCED EFFORT IN WIN VS. SIMPSON
- The Spartans had 13 different players score in an 85-60 win over Simpson on Nov. 17.
- Guard Zach Chappell came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points, including a pair of three-pointers.
- Guard Seneca Knight was 6-of-8 shooting for 15 points.
- Forward Ralph Agee posted 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
- Freshman walk-on Harminder Dhaliwal made his collegiate debut and had two points and two rebounds in six minutes.
SPARTANS STUN HOFSTRA IN SEASON-OPENER
- San José State opened the 2019-20 season with a bang, defeating Hofstra on the road, 79-71, on Nov. 6.
- Hofstra won 27 games last year, SJSU lost 27 games.
- In his Spartan debut, JC transfer and former Wake Forest guard, Richard Washington, posted a team-high 23 points off the bench on 8-of-13 shooting. He scored 12 of his 23 points in the final four minutes, including a stretch of three straight three-pointers to put the game away.
- It was SJSU's first win in a road opener since 2010-11 when the Spartans topped Eastern Washington, 67-60.
- The Spartans snapped a 21-game road losing streak dating back to the 2017-18 campaign.
- SJSU won on the East Coast for the first time since 2001-02, when the Spartans defeated Fairleigh Dickinson at the BCA Tournament hosted by NC State in Raleigh, N.C.