SAN JOSE, Calif.- The San José State men’s basketball will open the 2025-26 season against Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday at 6 p.m. The game can be watched on ESPN+ and be heard on KTRB 860 AM.
- The Spartans are looking to return to postseason play for the third time in four years which would be the best stretch in program history.
- The Spartans are also looking to return to postseason play in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history.
- Last season, the Spartans competed in the NIT for the first time since 1981.
- The last time the Spartans defeated a power conference team was in a 88-76 win at Washington State on Nov. 27, 2016.
- The last time SJSU defeated a team in the Big-12 was in a 79-64 win over Baylor on Dec. 20, 2003.
- The Spartans are playing their first season opener on the road since 2019 when they opened at Hofstra in a 79-71 victory.
- The Spartans are opening the season with three games on the road for the first time since 1994-95, not including neutral site games. The Spartans started the season 0-3 that year.
- The Spartans' 46 wins over their last three seasons is the most wins since the team won 46 games from 1985-88 while in the Big West conference.
- This game marks the first time the Spartans have played Utah since Feb. 18, 1999.
- The Spartans are 2-13 all time against Utah.
- The Spartans’ last victory over the Utes came on Dec. 29, 1984 in a 72-70 victory on the road. The only other Spartan win came on Jan. 2, 1936 in a 40-34 victory in San Jose.
- The Spartans are 3-1 in season openers under Head Coach Tim Miles.
- The Spartans will have a completely new starting five for the second consecutive season
- The Spartans return just three players who saw minutes last season, equating to 19.4 percent of their scoring (Sadraque NgaNga - 6.8 ppg, Jermaine Washington - 4.4 ppg & Pasha Goodarzi - 2.3 ppg).
- SJSU added six new players this offseason from the transfer portal. They include Colby Garland (Longwood), Adrian Myers (Mississippi State), JaVaughn Hannah (Western Michigan), Jaden Goodall (Cal), Yaphet Moundi (Iona) & Marcus Overstreet (Mercer).
- The Spartans added five freshmen to the squad, including Melvin Bell Jr., Damase Coly, Eren Karakaya, Japhet Moupadele & Douglas Langford.
- Two of the Spartans' freshmen, Karakaya and Moupadele, are international.
- Karakaya, from Turkey, broke the record for most blocks in a season in the Turkish u19 league in 2024-25.
- Moupadele, from France, played on the French u19 team at the FIBA u19 European Championships last summer.
- The Spartans also add redshirt freshman Ben Roseborough, who missed all of last season with an injury. Roseborough was a three star rated recruit and ranked as the 13th best player in California in his recruiting class.
- Garland averaged 12.1 points and 4.4 assists per game at Longwood last season. Garland, who played his freshman season at Drake, was named to the Missouri Valley All-Bench Team in 2023-24 and played 14 minutes in Drake's NCAA Tournament game vs. Washington State.
- Hannah has played in 89 career games with 49 starts, all at Western Michigan. Hannah has 812 career points, 309 career rebounds and was named 2024 MAC sixth man of the year.
- Moundi averaged 9.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in just 20.6 minutes per game last season at Iona. According to KemPom, Moundi ranked 15th nationally in offensive rebound percentage and 18th in defensive rebound percentage last season.
- Bell was rated four stars on ESPN and three stars with a player rating of 88 on 247Sports. Bell was also ranked as the third best player in Illinois in his recruiting class according to ESPN. Bell played at La Lumiere High School which was ranked No. 8 in MaxPreps National Top 10 Basketball Rankings.
- Washington was the lone Spartan freshman to record minutes last season, playing in 34 out of 35 games and drawing seven starts. Washington earned more and more minutes as the season progressed and scored a career-high 19 in the Spartans' regular season finale against Fresno State.
- The Spartans were picked to finish 10th in the Mountain West Preseason poll.
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