Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State men’s basketball will wrap up their Bay Area road trip against their final nonconference foe of the season, the Saint Mary’s Gaels, when they travel to Moraga for a 5 pm tipoff. Justin Allegri will have the Spartans’ radio call on KLIV 1590 AM.

Game #12
San Jose State (3-8) at Saint Mary’s (8-6)
Saturday, Dec. 29, 5:00 p.m. (PT)
McKeon Pavilion
Moraga, Calif.

Live stats
Fans can view live stats of all SJSU men’s basketball games, home and away, by accessing the ‘Live Stats” feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the men’s basketball schedule page to follow the action.

A win would mean…
SJSU is looking for their first win over the Gaels since Nov. 26, 2000, which was a 82-68 rout. A win would also be the fourth of the season, tying the team’s 2017-18 total for the whole year.

Oh, so close! 
For the second-straight game, SJSU fell just short in a tight game against a Pac-12 foe. The Spartans led at Cal for all but :02 seconds in the first half, and regained the lead in the second half. However, the Golden Bears went on to take control and prevailed 88-80.

The Spartans’ 80 points were the most against a D1 opponent this season and they shot a season-best 55.8% from the field. Oumar Barry had a career-high 18 points while Noah Baumann added 18 of his own. Michael Steadman tallied his fifth double-double of the season.

Sharpest shooter in the nation
Sophomore Noah Baumann leads the nation in 3-point FG percentage. He is touting a 57.1% clip on 28-of-49 shooting. He is also averaging 2.5 3s per game, which ranks in the top-10 in the Mountain West.

Baumann is averaging 14.0 points per game in the last five games and is touting a gaudy 60% clip from 3-point range (18-30). He is coming off a career-high six 3s at Cal as part of an 18-point performance.

Steady Steadman
JUCO transfer Michael Steadman has made a big impact this season as a leader on and off the court. The 6’10″ forward is averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game and ranks fourth in the MW with 9.7 rebounds per game. He also ranks 22nd nationally in rebounds per game and 25th in defensive rebounds per game. He has five double-doubles on the season, ranking third in the MW and has scored in double figures in 10-of-11 games, including nine straight.

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

Scouting the competition
The Gaels enter Saturday’s game with a 8-6 record. They had a four-game win streak in the first couple weeks of December with wins over Cal (84-71), Bethune-Cookman (93-61), New Mexico (85-60) and Cal State Fullerton (81-66) before falling to LSU, 78-74. The Gaels dropped their last game at Western Kentucky 71-68.

Junior guard Jordan Ford is one of the most dynamic scorers in collegiate basketball, ranking in the top-15 in four different categories: total points (third), total FG made (fourth), total FG attempts (seventh) and points per game (13th), which he leads the conference with 23.2.

Saturday’s meeting is the 82nd installment in the series that has been neck-and-neck throughout the years. The Gaels hold the overall advantage 43-39 and have won the last seven straight dating back to Dec. 4, 2001. The Spartans’ last win in the series was on Nov. 26, 2000 in a 82-68 victory in Moraga.

The Gaels are led by 17th-year head coach Randy Bennett.

Oh my Oumar
Senior center Oumar Barry is playing his best basketball as a Spartan as of late. Versus Bethune-Cookman, he finished with a then-career-high 13 points and 7 rebounds. He followed that up with his most dominating performance at SJSU as he recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds–his first-career game with double digit rebounds. He also blocked two shots and was 7-of-10 at the free throw line to help the Spartans to a victory.

Barry followed up with another double-double against Stanford (15 points, 10 rebounds). After playing 38 career games without recording a double-double, he now has two in the last three games.

Barry’s last outing saw a score of a career-high 18 points before fouling out with 4:36 to play at Cal. In his last five games, he leads the team with 14.8 points per game and is averaging 8.0 rebounds.

Conference play in the immediate future
Saturday’s game is the final nonconference bout for the Spartans before they buckle up for their MW slate. The first of nine conference home games will be played on Wednesday, January 2 as SJSU welcomes rival Fresno State to the Event Center at 7 pm.