Photo credit: youtube.com

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State men’s basketball team hosts the San Diego State men’s basketball team on Saturday night inside the Event Center with a tipoff scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. Tickets for the game are available at the Spartan Ticket Office, which can be reached at 408-924-7589. ESPN3 will broadcast the game live and Spartan fans can listen to the home broadcast by tuning into KLIV 1590 AM to hear Justin Allegri’s play-by-play call.

Game #27
SJSU (3-23, 0-15 MW) vs. SDSU  (16-10, 8-7 MW)
Saturday, February 24, 2018, 7:00 pm PT
The Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

TV: ESPN3
Radio: KLIV 1590 AM

Spartans to honor Welage Saturday
Earlier this season, Ryan Welage became the 15th player to reach the 1,000-point plateau in the 108-year history of the SJSU men’s basketball program. Since then, he has risen among the all-time scoring ranks to seventh place with 1,200 points. SJSU Director of Athletics Marie Tuite and head coach Jean Prioleau will present Welage with a ceremonial 1,000-point basketball prior to the Spartans’ tipoff on Saturday night.

SJSU all-time scoring leaders
1. 1,767 – Ricky Berry (84 games)
2. 1,750 – Adrian Oliver (80 games)
3. 1,504 – Stu Inman (123 games)
4. 1,432 – Wally Rank (102 games)
5. 1,272 – Justin Graham (119 games)
6. 1,236 – Chris McNealy (81 games)
7. 1,200- Ryan Welage (87 games)
8. 1,173 – Coby Dietrick (72 games)
9. 1,139 – Terry Cannon (97 games)
10. 1,136 – Johnnie Skinner (73 games)

King of the three-ball
Welage sank four 3-pointers last game at Nevada, which brought him into a tie with Tim Pierce as the all-time leader for made threes in a Spartan career with 153. His first 3-pointer of the night Saturday would make him the all-time 3-point makes leader in program history.

SJSU career 3-point field goals made leaders
1. 153 – Tim Pierce (86 games)
1. 153 – Ryan Welage (87 games)
3. 138 – Adrian Oliver (80 games)
4. 134 – Rashad Muhammad (58 games)
5. 125 – Robert Owens (61 games)

Spartan opponents have been loading up from downtown
In the last two games, Wyoming and Nevada combined to attempt 79 threes against the Spartans. The two combined to make 40.5 of the shots from beyond the arc. Wyoming jacked up 42 shots from downtown, which was a school record for a Spartan opponent. Kendall Stephens and Hallice Cooke shot 26 of Nevada’s 37 threes in the last game, of which they hit 12. Guarding against easy points in the paint, the Spartans have been playing the 3-point percentages against their opponents. SDSU comes in shooting 34.7 percent as a team from beyond the arch, ranking seventh in the Mountain West.

Series history with SDSU
SDSU holds a 37-35 edge over San Jose State in the all-time series. SJSU’s 76-71 win over the Aztecs last season inside the Event Center last year snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series which dated back to 1999.

Last meeting with SDSU
SJSU suffered a 36-point, 85-49, loss to SDSU earlier this season on January 9 inside the Viejas Arena. The one shining moment of the evening was Welage sinking a pair of free throws in the second half for his career-points 999 and 1,000. With that he etched his name in the SJSU history books as the 15th player in the 108-year history of the program to reach 1,000 points.

Mountain West tournament seeding impact
At 0-15 in league play, SJSU is locked in the 11th spot and will play the sixth-seeded team in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament. Right now, teams four through eight in the MW standings are all separated by 2.0 games, and one of them is SDSU. The Aztecs are currently in sixth place and one of three teams heading into the weekend with an 8-7 record in MW play.

Team defense continues to hold Spartans back
Just a few weeks ago, the Spartans had a top-five field goal percentage defense in the MW of 42.5 percent. However, in the last five games, Spartan opponents are hitting 46.2 percent of their field goal attempts and averaging 81.4 points per game. SDSU comes into Saturday’s game shooting 46.0 percent as a team and averages 77.8 points per game, which ranks seventh in the MW.

Fisher III extends career-scoring high again
Redshirt freshman Keith Fisher III extended his career-scoring high twice in one week with a 23-point performance at Colorado State on February 10, followed by 26 points last Saturday at Wyoming. Fisher has finished eight of the last 11 games in double-figure scoring. Over the last five games he is averaging 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds while hitting 52.6 percent of his shots. He was limited to just five points in the last game at Nevada after fouling out with just under 12 minutes to play in the second half.

Hillsman returns to starting lineup vs. Wyoming
Jaycee Hillsman not only returned to the starting lineup for the first time since December 5, but he also played a career-high 39 minutes last Saturday at Wyoming. He finished the game with a double-double including 15 points and 10 rebounds. The junior from Champaign, Illinois, is averaging 9.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24.4 minutes during conference play.