SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San José State men's basketball team closes out the 2019-20 regular season on Saturday with a 2 PM tip against UNLV on AT&T SportsNet.
SENIOR DAY CEREMONY
Be sure to stick around on Saturday, as the Spartans will honor seniors Brae Ivey and Isaiah Nichols following the game.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS (7-22, 3-14 MW)
PPG: 70.1 | FG%: 38.8 | 3FG%: 30.0 | FT%: 71.9
Notes: Sophomore Seneca Knight was on fire against Colorado State last Saturday. The lanky guard scored 26 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 37 in a narrow loss to the Rams. Knight was 9-of-19 shooting with five threes and a 14-of-15 effort at the free throw line. It was Knight's third 30+ point effort of the season with all three coming on the road. Knight is averaging 20.1 points per game in Mountain West play, third-best in the league. He's shooting 42.2 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from three in league games.
UNLV RUNNIN' REBELS (16-14, 11-6 MW)
PPG: 71.8 | FG%: 43.2 | 3FG%: 31.3 | FT%: 69.8
Series: SJSU is 6-40 vs. UNLV, last win was in 2017
Last: SJSU lost at UNLV, 98-87, on Jan. 15, 2020
Notes: UNLV has won four straight games coming into Saturday's showdown at the Event Center. Included in that streak is a 66-63 upset of No. 4 ranked San Diego State, the Aztecs' first loss of the season. Elijah Mitrou-Long had a team-high 19 points off the bench against SDSU while Bryce Hamilton had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Hamilton leads the team in scoring this year at 15.7 points per game on 46.1 percent shooting.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV - AT&T SportsNet with Jenny Cavnar and Dave Bollwinkel
Stream - www.attsportsnet.com
Radio - Justin Allegri on the call through TuneIn.com and the TuneIn app. Search TuneIn for "San Jose St. Basketball".
LAST TIME AGAINST UNLV
- The Spartans lost, 98-87, at UNLV on Jan. 15.
- Seneca Knight had one of his three 30+ point games this season, with 30 points on 7-of-16 shooting against the Rebels plus four threes and 12-of-15 shooting at the free throw line. Christian Anigwe added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
- The Spartans were out-rebounded, 45-23, by the Rebels.
- UNLV had five players in double figures scoring.
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 one Mountain West game 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.
