| San José State (11-4, 2-0 MW) at Boise State (10-4, 0-1 MW) | |
| When | Tuesday, January 3 | 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT |
| Location | ExtraMile Arena, Boise, Idaho |
| Broadcast & Statistics | Mountain West Network KDOW 1220 AM Live Stats |
| Game Notes | San José State | Boise State |
| Rosters | San José State | Boise State |
The Spartans begin 2023 undefeated in Mountain West play, tied with four others atop the conference standings, and take that record to Boise State for a Tuesday night match-up. The Spartans play in another venue that has not brought much luck to the program as the team has not won in the city.
San José State enters the game with an 11-4 overall record and a 2-0 MW mark, the first time in school history that the Spartans are undefeated to start MW play. The team defeated Colorado State for the first time in school history on Saturday, winning 78-70, as head coach Tim Miles returned to Moby Arena for the first time since his five-year stint at the helm of the Rams program (2007-12).
ABOUT BOISE STATE: The Broncos enter Tuesday night's game with a 10-4 overall record and 0-1 MW mark. The team had a nine-game winning streak earlier this season, ended by a loss at Santa Clara, 78-53, on December 22. Boise State opened MW play on December 28 with a 74-72 loss at Nevada. Head coach Leon Rice is in his 13th season at the school and was the 2021-22 MW Coach of the Year.
Series Record - 3-37, Boise State has won 10 straight.
The two schools first faced each other for the first time on December 17, 1988, in San Jose. All three Spartan wins have come at the Provident Credit Union Event Center - Feb. 2, 2002 (62-51); Jan, 14, 2010 (76-74) & March 5, 2016 (68-63).
Last SJSU Win - 68-63, March 5, 2016, San Jose
Brandon Clarke came off the bench and led the Spartans with 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win. Gary Williams, Jr., and Princeton Onwas each scored 14 points in the win.
NET RANKINGS (as of 1/2): The Spartans are in the top-100 of the NET rankings, checking in at 96 after games played on January 1. After the win at Santa Clara, the Spartans jumped up for 191 to 132, with a Quadrant 2 win over the Broncos and added another in the win over UNLV. San José State then jumped into the top-100 with another Quadrant 2 win over Colorado State. The team has two Quadrant 3 wins (Ball State & Northern Colorado) and five Quadrant 4 wins.
COMEBACK WINS PUTS SPARTANS AT 2-0 IN MW: The Spartans showed resilience in the team's 78-70 win at Colorado State on December 28. The team started slowly, trailing by as many as 14 in the first half at 24-10, and chipped away at the Ram lead to get within two points at 35-33 with 43 seconds remaining before going down 36-33 at halftime.
There were seven lead changes in the second half, the final coming with five minutes remaining in the game as Robert Vaihola took a pass from Omari Moore and scored to make it 59-57. The Spartans never gave back the lead and improved to 9-1 on the season when leading with five minutes remaining in the game.
MOORE'S HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WIN OVER RAMS: Omari Moore scored a career-best 29 points and hit a career-best five three-pointers to lead SJSU in the 78-70 win at Colorado State.
*Balanced scoring attack w/14 points in first half & 15 points in second half
*9-of-15 from the field and a blistering 5-for-8 from three-point range.
*assisted on five Spartans buckets which totaled 14 points of the offense.
MORE GOLD STARS IN WIN AT COLORADO STATE
*Sage Tolbert recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 11 points and 13 rebounds including 11 defensive boards.
*Four Spartans scored in double figures, led by Omari Moore's 29. Alvaro Cardenas and Tibet Görener each had 12 points followed by Tolbert's 11.
*San José State made a season-best 13 three-point field goals in the game, finishing 13-27 from behind the arc.
*The win over Colorado State is the first in Spartan men's basketball history. San José State is now 1-23 in the all-time series.
BOISE STATE CONNECTION: Former Spartan men's basketball player Garrett Ton currently works in the Boise State Athletics Department as an Assistant Athletic Directory, Facility Operations. Ton played in 48 games across four seasons (2008-12). He was a letterwinner in his final two seasons with the Spartans, appearing in 21 games as a junior and 18 as a senior. He was a part of the 2010-11 team which finished 17-15 and played in the 2011 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
SPARTAN REBOUNDING EFFORTS SECOND-BEST IN THE NATION: SJSU has been out-rebounding their opponents by an average of 10.9 rebounds per game, ranking them second out of 352 teams ranked nationally. Purdue is the national leader at +12.7 rebounds. San José State outrebounded Colorado State, 42-27, and UNLV, 49-35, in the wins last week. The Spartans average 39.33 rebounds per game, ranking 34th in the nation. Three Spartans average 5.0 or more rebounds per game, led by Sage Tolbert III at 8.3 pg. Robert Vaihola is next at 6.2, and then Ibrahima Diallo at 5.3.
UP NEXT: The Spartans return to the Provident Credit Union Event Center for two games over the next 10 days. The team hosts Nevada on Saturday the 7th at 1 p.m., followed by Fresno State on Tuesday the 10th at 7 p.m.