Tag: NCAA Basketball

KZ Okpala was a First-Team All-District selection by the USBWA

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

Stanford Cardinal forward KZ Okpala was a First Team All-District selection by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), based on voting from its national membership of more than 900 individuals.

Okpala, who was also a First Team All-Pac-12 pick, led Stanford in scoring at 16.8 PPG in his second year on The Farm. He ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring with the second-most 20-point games (15) in the conference. He also ranks 17th in the conference in rebounding (5.7 RPG), and 12th in defensive rebounding (4.5 DRPG). During the Pac-12 regular season, he finished fifth in the conference in scoring (17.5 PPG).

Okpala, a semifinalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, scored a career-high 30 points in the win at California in February. He recorded four consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his career in the middle of the conference season, achieving the mark against Arizona (29), Arizona State (21), Washington (22) and Utah (22). He arned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors in November, after averaging 29.0 ppg in victories over Seattle and UNC Wilmington. He finished his sophomore season on The Farm with a pair of double-doubles, posting 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Pac-12 opener against UCLA and 20 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener against Seattle.

The USBWA All-District IX Team recognized 11 standouts from Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura was the District IX Player of the Year.

Stanford, with 11 of 15 players in their first or second year, completed the season 15-16 overall and 8-10 in the Pac-12.

March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Jayhawks’ De Sousa took money from booster and agent; LSU’s Wade investigated for wiring funds to recruits; plus more

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Photo credit: @SilvioDeSousa5

On the March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle:

#1 Silvio De Sousa of the Kansas Jayhawks and Kansas University is under investigation after it was learned that De Sousa was receiving money from a booster and an agent. De Sousa must sit out this season and next season but he’s not worried he.

#2 LSU Tigers’ Will Wade is under investigation regarding wire fraud. Wade was wire tapped by the FBI funneling funds to families of player recruits at Louisville, Kansas, and North Carolina State. Also, it was reported that Wade was frustrated in trying to obtain high school player from a Louisiana High School Javonte Smart in negotiating terms. It was not confirmed if Wade was in violation of NCAA rules as there is no confirmation of Wade funneling the money to the families or if they accepted the money.

#3 Michelle goes over her brackets for March Madness.

Michelle does the NCAA podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose State suffers tough loss to Air Force 87-56 in MWC Tournament

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Photo credit: @AnaKieu

By: Ana Kieu

LAS VEGAS — Coming off an appalling season, 11th seed San Jose State played in their fifth Mountain West Tournament Wednesday as they opened play against 6-seed Air Force in the Thomas & Mack Center.

SJSU’s starting five featured Michael Steadman, Zach Chappell, Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, and Ashtin Chastain.

SJSU opened the scoring with a 13-0 run, thanks to Knight, Baumann, and Chappell. Knight hit back-to-back 3s, Baumann hit a 3 and made a jumper, and Chappell made a jumper. Chris Joyce made a jumper in the paint and a free throw to end the Spartans’ run. Still, the Spartans led 13-3 at the 16:25 mark, and Baumann broke the school record for most 3-point baskets made in a season with 79.

From there, it was a back-and-forth affair between SJSU and Air Force. Chastain made a jumper in the paint to extend the Spartans’ lead to 15-3, but Joyce and Lavelle Scottie made back-to-back jumpers. Not only that, Scottie and Caleb Morris hit back-to-back 3s to bring the Falcons within 2 points at the 11:40 mark.

Shortly after, Ameka Akaya made a jumper to tie the game 15-15 at the 10:01 mark. Ryan Swan followed up with a 3 to give Air Force their first lead of the night, 18-15, with 8:57 left. Baumann made a jumper to bring SJSU within 1 just 54 seconds later. But the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to stump the Spartans, who trailed 28-17 with 5:44 left.

SJSU picked up the pace, thanks to Baumann, Steadman, and Knight, and cut the deficit to 32-23 with 2:43 left. Knight made a layup in the paint to trim the deficit to 8 just 62 seconds later. Chastain hit a 3 with only 3 seconds remaining. However, the Spartans were unable to recover the lead, so the efforts of the starting five were attention-grabbers, but not game-changers.

SJSU trailed 36-28 at the halftime break.

SJSU opened the second half with a 3 by Chappell, but the Air Force shooting was pretty hot. The Spartans never got re-energized like @SJSUMBB suggested at halftime and the Falcons used a 17-2 run to extend their lead to 22 points at the 11:34 mark. Joyce upped his point total to 17, which was a new career-high.

SJSU trailed 75-49 at the final timeout with 3:52 left. Air Force put on a dribbling exhibition for the final minutes of the game to close things out.

SJSU lost to Air Force 87-56. The Spartans were eliminated from the Mountain West Tournament, while the Falcons advanced to the quarterfinals against the Fresno State Bulldogs. The Falcons vs. Bulldogs game will be played Thursday at 8:30 pm PST on the CBS Sports Network.

Follow @AnaKieu on Twitter for SJSU football and men’s basketball coverage.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary with Barbara Mason: Canseco takes A-Rod up on boxing match over cheating accusations; plus more

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Photo credit: @TheLedgeSports

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 Former New York Yankee Jose Canseco said in a tweet that former New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez was cheating on his girlfriend , actress Jennifer Lopez. A-Rod then challenged Canseco to a boxing match via tweet and Canseco then challenged A-Rod to boxing match via Twitter. Canseco also said he would take a polygraph test and pass.

#2 US Olympic cyclist Kelly Catlin had it all–a gold medal, member of the US bicycle team, winner of three straight bicycle championships at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Catlin died by suicide at age 23. This was a shock to her family and the Olympic community.

#3 The Stanford Cardinal Women (28-4) look prepared for March Madness. They’re coming off a 64-57 win over the Oregon Ducks Sunday. The Cardinal celebrated in the Pac-12 Tournament Title Game.

#4 Antonio Brown joins the Oakland Raiders over the weekend. The past six seasons for Brown, he has averaged 114 catches, 1524 receiving, and has had 15 touchdown catches in 2018 which is a career-high.

#5 Jesus Luzardo looks like he could get a shot in the rotation for the Oakland A’s. In just Sunday’s game, he gave up four hits, a walk, and one run against the San Francisco Giants in Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium against the Giants. He will not be going to Japan for the opening series against the Seattle Mariners.

Barbara Mason is doing That’s Amaury’s podcasts for Amaury Pi Gonzalez at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

11th seed San Jose State takes on 6th seed Air Force in MWC Tournament

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

LAS VEGAS — San Jose State men’s basketball will play in their fifth Mountain West Tournament Wednesday as they open play as the 11th seed against the sixth seed Air Force at 4:00 p.m. PT at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Fans can watch the game via the Mountain West Network and can listen to Justin Allegri’s radio call on the TuneIn app.

Game #31
No. 11 San Jose State (4-26, 1-17) vs. No. 6 Air Force (13-17, 8-10)
Wednesday, March 13, 4:00 pm PST
Thomas & Mack Center
Las Vegas, Nev.

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

What Would a Win Mean?
The Spartans are looking for their first win in the Mountain West Tournament (0-4).

Vs. Air Force in 2019
Wednesday’s game against No. 6 AF will be the third meeting between the programs this season.

SJSU played one of their best games of the season in the first meeting of the year with the Falcons, but ultimately fell 73-71 in double-overtime. Brae Ivey, who finished with 18 points, hit a 3 with just two seconds remaining to send the game to the first overtime.

Michael Steadman dominated with 24 points and was one of three Spartans in double-figure rebounding with 12. Ashtin Chastain tallied 13 and Craig LeCesne pulled down 12.

In game two, played in Colorado Springs, AF won more comfortably in a 82-68 final. Steadman had another big game as he scored 21 points and pulled down 17 rebounds. Seneca Knight, Brae Ivey and Brian Rodriguez-Flores all finished with 12 points.

Steadman has had two of his best games of the season against Air Force. He scored 24 points with 12 rebounds in game one and followed up with 21 points and 17 rebounds in game two.

Steadman is averaging 22.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in the two games.

Newcomers on the Rise
The Spartans have played nine first-year players this season, including regular starters Michael Steadman, Zach Chappell, Craig LeCesne and Brae Ivey. The newcomers are accounting for 69.7% of the Spartans’ offense (1,384-1,986).

Steadman alone is accounting for 20% of the Spartans’ offense with 407 points (20.4%).

Baumann the Boss
Sophomore Noah Baumann is shooting lights out from beyond the arc this season, so good in fact that he leads the Mountain West and ranks 10th in the NCAA in 3-point percentage at 45.6%. Baumann also ranks in the top 10 in the MW in 3-pointers per game (2.6).

Baumann set a new school record of 22 consecutive games with a 3-point bucket made against UNLV on Feb. 16, breaking a tie with Robert Owens, who closed out 2009-10 on a 21-game streak, for the new record. His streak is currently at 28.

Baumann is tied for the most 3s in a single-season after hitting three at Fresno State. he currently has 78, tied with Robert Owens (2010). With one more in the conference tournament, he will own the record outright.

In the loss to Utah State, Baumann had one of the most impressive performances of his career as he scored a career-high 29 points and tied the then-school record with seven 3-pointers (7-of-10). He also set career highs in 3-point attempts and field goal attempts.

Baumann has hit the school record in 3-point makes twice the season, the second time, however, vs. New Mexico, he broke the record outright with 8. He finished 8-of-12 from 3-point range to lead the Spartans to a win over UNM.

Not satisfied with just two, Baumann once again made seven treys in the home finale vs. Wyoming. Six of his seven came in the first half. He finished the night with a game-high 27 points.

Baumann holds the first, second and third highest-scoring performances by a Spartan this season with 29 vs. Utah State, 27 vs. WYO and 26 vs. UNM. The sophomore is averaging 11.5 points in conference play, second-most on the team (Steadman). He is also averaging 15.6 points in the last five games.

Chappell’s Show
Freshman Zach Chappell has come on strong as of late, starting the last six games and averaging 7.8 points in the final five games of the regular season. Against UNLV, Chappell finished with 11 points, a career-high six rebounds and nine assists–tied for the most by a Spartan this season. He had 10 points vs. Colorado State.

In the win over UNM, Chappell finished with a career-high 17 points and dished out 9 assists. He now has two games with 9 assists on the season, which is tied with Craig LeCesne for the most by any Spartan.

Chappell then scored 14 points at San Diego State.

Chastain in Charge
Junior Ashtin Chastain has been tasked to fill in the gap in the starting lineup with senior Oumar Barry sidelined by injury. He has started the last 12 games in his stead.

Reviewing the Big Win Over UNM
SJSU’s 89-82 win over UNM was a historic night in the Event Center. Not only did it break a 17-game losing streak, it also featured a plethora of records.

The win was the second all-time against the Lobos and the first-ever in San Jose.

Baumann broke his own school record with eight 3-pointers on 8-of-12 shooting. He finished with a team-best 26 points.

Ivey tied a school record with six steals on the evening. He is one of multiple players to tally six steals, but just the first to do so since Justin Graham vs. Santa Clara on December 10, 2010.

Steadman had his second-straight game with 21 points as well as his second-straight double-double. He had 10 made field goals and 20 field goal attempts, both the most by a Spartan this season.

Steadman and Baumann became the first duo to score 20 points this season and were the first to do so since Ryan Welage and Jaycee Hillsman vs. Wyoming in the MW Tournament last season (March 7, 2018).

Changes
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.

Starry Knight
Freshman guard Seneca Knight has upped his game recently as well. In the last five games, the Lafayette, La., native is averaging 9.2 points, fourth-best on the team in that stretch. Against CSU, he led the team with a 14 point performance. He followed with 12 points at AF and had 12 more at SDSU. In his last outing, he scored 15 points, the most he’s scored against a Division I opponent this season.

Steady Steadman
JUCO transfer Michael Steadman has made a big impact this season as a leader on and off the court. He is averaging a team-high 13.6 points per game and ranks sixth in the MW with 8.5 rebounds per game. He has 11 double-doubles on the season, ranking third in the conference and has scored in double figures in 22-of-30 games. He also has 14 games with double-digit rebounds.

Steadman leads the team with six games with at least 20 points, and has twice achieved the feat in back-to-back efforts. First was against AF and USU. He put up a career-high 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the loss to AF. He then followed up with 20 points at USU.

Steadman’s second such streak started with a career-best 17 rebounds to go with 21 points at AF. He followed with 21 points and pulled down 11 boards in the win over UNM.

Steadman is averaging 14.8 points per game in the last five games and is averaging 13.2 in MW games.

Steadman came up just short of extending his double-double streak to five straight games to close the season, finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds at Fresno State.

Prior to that, Steadman had four-straight double-doubles. He averaged 17.4 points and 11.6 rebounds in the final five games.

Change It Up
Prioleau has used 10 different lineups throughout the season with no one player starting each time out. Senior Oumar Barry had started the first 17 games before an injury kept him out of the lineup the last four games. Seven newcomers have made starts, including freshmen Seneca Knight, Zach Chappell, Trey Smith, and Christian Anigwe.

Baumann and Steadman Crucial in Wins
In SJSU’s four wins this season, there have been two critical factors. Their names are Noah Baumann and Michael Steadman.

In those four games, the pair is averaging 15.3 points each. Steadman has pulled down 11.3 rebounds in those games, while Baumann has been red-hot from 3-point range in each game, averaging 69.6% from the 3-point range (16-23).

On the Board(s)
SJSU ranks third in the MW in offensive boards with 11.0 per game. They rank fifth in defensive boards with 26.2.

Series History: Air Force
Wednesday’s game will be the 16th overall meeting between the Spartans and Falcons. SJSU has a pair of three-game win streaks in the series. The Spartans have won three of the last seven games, however AF is on a four-game win streak after taking both regular season games in 2019 in a 73-71 double-overtime win in San Jose and 82-68 win in Colorado Springs, Colo.

AF checks in as the No. 6 seed and are led by seventh-year head coach Dave Pilipovich. This will be the first meeting between the programs in the MW tournament.

San Jose State/Mountain West Tournament podcast with Ana Kieu: Men’s basketball sets sights on Mountain West tournament; Spring football madness; plus more

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB, @SJSUSpartanFB, and sjsuspartans.com

On the San Jose State podcast with Ana:

1. SJSU lost to Wyoming 81-71 and was unable to get a win for Oumar Barry on Senior Night last Wednesday.

2. More than two dozen SJSU student-athletes called donors to thank them for their support of the Spartan Athletics Fund and SJSU’s 22 Division I sports programs last Wednesday.

3. SJSU closed out the 2018-19 season with a horrifically embarrassing loss 121-81 at Fresno State last Saturday.

4. SJSU has been putting in work in spring football to prepare for the 2019 season.

5. What does SJSU need to do to beat the No. 6 Air Force Falcons in the first round of the Mountain West Conference men’s basketball tournament?

Ana recorded the San Jose State podcasts each week for SportsRadioService.com. Catch Ana on the San Jose Earthquakes podcasts as the Quakes’ season progresses.

Cal podcast with Morris Phillips: Will wins in Pac-12 Tournament translate to saving Jones’ coaching job?

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photo from bearinsider.com: The Cal Golden Bears Darius McNiell takes a shot over the crowded field of Stanford Cardinal defenders during last Thu Mar 7th’s contest at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto

On the Cal podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Will a couple of wins during the Pac-12 Tournament equate to saving Cal head coach Wyking Jones’ job?

#2 The Bears’ Connor Vanover was shooting baskets and he looked like he had lots of daylight against the Stanford Cardinal. He led the Golden Bears with 24 points and was the key player in leading Cal to that big road win on Thursday night.

#3 Paris Austin had 15 points and Matt Bradley 14 also were offensive contributors and a big help in Cal’s third straight win

#4 The Bears ran off a 17-0 run and that pretty much clipped the wings of the Cardinal, who towards at the end of the game pulled within four points, but couldn’t catch Cal, who got the 64-59 win.

#5 Cal plays the Colorado Buffaloes (19-11). The Buffaloes are no slouch. They have compiled some successful offense that got them past some of their opponents and the defense have shut some of their opponents down for some key wins and 19 wins says a lot about the year the Buffaloes have had. Does Cal have any chance to win in Vegas and will this be a lights out game for Cal?

Morris Phillips does the Cal Bears basketball podcast with http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Top schools Virginia and NC; plus Tenn, Kentucky, and Duke

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Photo credit: @UVAMensHoops

On the March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle:

#1 Michelle, talk about some the top ranked schools in March Madness, Virginia and North Carolina.

#2 Talk about the Tennessee Vols (5), Kentucky Wildcats (6), and Duke Blue Devils (10).

#3 The Washington State Cougars (11-20) finished up their season with Oregon State Beavers (18-12) they’ve lost four in a row. What is the best thing they can expect out of the Pac-12 Tournament?

Michelle’s Final Thoughts

Michelle does the NCAAB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose State closes out regular season with horrifically embarrassing loss at Fresno State 121-81

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Photo credit: @FresnoStateMBB

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State’s men’s basketball team wrapped up 2019 with a road game at the Fresno State Bulldogs in Save Mart Center Saturday.

Just moments before the tip-off, Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced his starting lineup of Michael Steadman, Zach Chappell, Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, and Ashtin Chastain.

The rivalry game started a little later than expected due to the fact the Bulldogs honored their three seniors–Braxton Huggins, Deshon Taylor, and Sam Bittner–on Senior Night.

The Bulldogs won the tip and the game went underway. SJSU got on the board first, but Huggins hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Fresno State a 6-3 lead at the 17:45 mark. With those threes, Fresno State tied their new school record with 303 threes and counting this season.

Huggins continued his dominance with seven three-pointers with 8:30 left. The Spartans trailed 35-26, which was unfortunate given the fact they held ties and mere leads up until this point. Huggins had a game-high 21 points and gave the Bulldogs a 37-26 lead with 7:44 left. Meanwhile, SJSU shot 10-of-14 with less than seven minutes left.

Taylor made a pair of free throws to make it a 40-27 game in favor of Fresno State with 6:36 left. Fast forward to the timeout, where the Bulldogs led 43-34 at the Bulldogs’ timeout with 4:31 left. The Spartans later stormed off to the locker room with a 59-40 deficit at halftime. Though, SJSU outshot Fresno State by seven percent, so that was one of the silver linings. The other silver lining was the Spartans’ leading scorers in Knight and Steadman–both of whom scored 11 points each.

As if there wasn’t already enough Huggins in the first half, Huggins opened the scoring with quite a few attention-grabbing shots in the second half.

SJSU trailed 73-47 at the 16:18 mark. Fresno State’s trap got to SJSU and that eventually led to Prioleau putting Brian Rodriguez-Flores, a walk-on guard from Phoenix, in the Spartans’ lineup just minutes before the 10-minute mark. Rodriguez-Flores, however, didn’t provide much assistance to the Spartans, who were overwhelmed by the Bulldogs, who made it rain with threes. Noah Blackwell set the record for most threes in conference play in MWC history. Also, Huggins tied the school record for most threes made in a single game.

Blackwell made a pair of free throws to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 100-70 with 6:21 left. The Bulldogs had more records to chase in the Save Mart Center and that they did. Fresno State (22-8, 13-5 MW) refused to stop playing offensively and San Jose State (4-26, 1-17 MW) suffered a 121-81 loss to close out the regular season.

SJSU gears up to take on the #6 Air Force Falcons in the first round of the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas. Game three is set for Wednesday, March 13 at 4:00 pm PT. Follow me on Twitter @AnaKieu for live updates.

Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman: Cal gives Stanford fits on home floor in season finale

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

On the Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey:

#1 The Cal Bears, who couldn’t win a Pac-12 conference game to save their lives, took two games from the Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars, and dominated Stanford on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion at Stanford.

#2 For Cal, Connor Vanover and Austin Paris led the Bears in scoring in the first half of Thursday’s game.

#3 It was Stanford’s home floor, the Cardinal normally don’t have too much problem at home. Is Cal a possessed team since getting those two wins against those Washington schools last week?

#4 What’s it going to be like for Stanford when KZ Okpala leaves for the NBA Draft?

#5 Talk about the job that Cardinal head coach Jerod Haase did against Cal on Thursday night in trying to back into the game.

Listen to the Stanford Cardinal podcasts each Friday with Joey at http://www.sportsradioservice.com