Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s obvious the San Jose State football team has been hapless, so let’s switch gears to the San Jose State men’s basketball team, who will tipoff the 2018-19 season on Wednesday night versus Life Pacific in the Event Center. The Spartans begin year two under second-year head coach Jean Prioleau. Spartan fans can listen to the broadcast by tuning into KLIV 1590 AM to hear Justin Allegri’s play-by-play call.

Game No. 1
Life Pacific at San Jose State
Wednesday Nov. 7 at 7:00 pm PT
Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

A Spartan win would…
A win over the Warriors would give SJSU their third consecutive season opening win. It would also be the Spartans’ third-straight win over Life Pacific.

New Spartans
A total of nine newcomers are looking to make their San Jose State debuts. Prioleau added JUCO transfers Michael Steadman, Brae Ivey, Craig LeCesne and Brian Rodriguez-Flores to go with his freshman class that consists of Zach Chappell, Christian Anigwe, Kaison Hammonds, Seneca Knight and Trey Smith.

Returning starters
The Spartans will have a total of five lettermen return this season in Oumar Barry, Noah Baumann, Ashtin Chastain, Isaiah Nichols and Caleb Simmons.

Full offseason for Prioleau
Prioleau is entering his second season at the helm of SJSU men’s basketball and is coming off his first full offseason with the program. Prioleau was hired on August 4, 2017, and was given just three months to prepare for his debut. Now with a full offseason to prepare his team, Prioleau and his staff are excited about the Spartans’ potential.

Staff changes
Prioleau made some changes to his staff in the offseason. He brought in former NC State All-American Julius Hodge as an assistant coach and promoted director of operations Ryan Cooper to assistant coach.

More about Life Pacific
The Life Pacific Warriors are a member of the Golden State Athletic Conference and the NAIA. They opened the season with a 90-49 victory over Westcliff University before dropping their last game to Benedictine University 73-67. The Warriors are led by Tim Cook in his third season.

Tropical breeze
After two home games to start off the season, the Spartans will hit the skies for a very long trip east to Bimini, The Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam from Nov. 15-18. SJSU will face Weber State in their opening game at 8:30 pm PT on November 15.