Tag: san jose

Barracuda hold on for a 2-1 victory over Heat

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda were able to get back to their winning ways against their NorCal rival the Stockton Heat as they scored two unanswered goals and were able to hold on for a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at SAP Center.

San Jose (22-8-1-3) controlled the tempo in the first period as they doubled up the shots on Stockton (16-18-3-0) 10-5. However, both goalies, Antoine Bibeau (9-5-3) for the Cuda and Jon Gillies (5-11-3) held their ground and kept the game scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the opening frame.

The Cuda would break through 11 seconds before time expired as Antti Suomela deked out Gillies going backhand-to-forehand and beat the Heat goaltender top-shelf for his second goal of the season at the 19:49 mark. Dylan Gambrell and Manny Weiderer received assists.

In the second period, once again, the story would be the goaltending that stole the show. Stockton put on more of a push, but Bibeau was able to stop all 11 shots from the Heat attack. Despite good scoring chances from San Jose, Gillies equaled his counterpart,  stopping all 10 Cuda shots in the middle frame.

In the third period, San Jose doubled their lead on the power play. Alex True fed a pass over to Kyle Wood at the point and Wood fired a wrist shot past a screened Gillies, who never saw the puck go into the back of the net for his third goal of the season at the 9:49 mark. Francis Perron received the secondary assist.

Stockton cut the lead in half when Buddy Robinson cleaned up a rebound off a Kerby Rychel shot that Bibeau made a toe save on. Robinson’s sixth goal of the season came at the 11:34 mark.

Stockton pulled Gillies late in the game for an extra attacker, but weren’t able to get that equalizer as Bibeau and the Cuda held off their late push.

Bibeau finished with 22 saves on 23 shots to earn his ninth victory of the season. Gillies made 31 saves on 33 shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/2 on the power play. Stockton was 1/3.

With the win San Jose improved to 12-4-0-1 at SAP Center and have the best mark in the Pacific Division.

The announced attendance was 5,740.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return to action on Friday 1/18 as they host the Texas Stars at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.

San Jose State drops third straight conference game in 87-64 loss to Boise State

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball was looking to rebound following five straight losses. SJSU returned home to host the Boise State Broncos inside the Event Center Saturday afternoon.

 

Prior to the midday tip-off, Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced his starting lineup of Michael Steadman, Brae Ivey, Oumar Barry, Noah Baumann and Craig LeCesne.

The Spartans won the tip and the game went underway on the SJSU campus. The Broncos got on the board first, thanks to Alex Hobbs’ 3-pointer, but Steadman hit a jumper in the paint to make it a 1-point game at the 18:53 mark of the opening half.

The half turned out to be a back-and-forth affair. Pretty much every time BSU expanded its lead, SJSU countered with a shot or two to pull within for a reduced deficit. Midway through the half, however, big game Baumann showed up, knocking down a jumper and hitting a 3 on a fastbreak to help the Spartans reduce its deficit to just six, 21-15, at the 10:52 mark.

 

 

 

Though, SJSU was just getting started. With 7:26 left in the half, SJSU made four of their last five shots from the field and shot for a 2-pointer after a media timeout. That attempt for a 2 was successful as the Spartans’ ascending play was finished off by Ivey, who helped his team pick up an extra two points. After that, SJSU proceeded to pour in the points for a 7-0 run to make it a 2-point game. BSU ended SJSU’s impressive run when Hobbs knocked down a jumper to extend his team’s lead to 28-24 with 4:48 left in the half.

Despite the deficit, SJSU received some much-needed assistance from Barry, who shot a layup and a lone free throw to make it a 1-point game. BSU responded with a 3 by Pat Dembley, but a brand-new response turned out to be easy as 1-2-3 as Ivey was fouled from beyond the arc and somehow made all three shots at the free throw line to make it a 1-point game again.

As the clock winded down, Hobbs hit two consecutive 3s, while Ivey made a pair of free throws. But the late efforts weren’t enough for SJSU, who trailed Boise State 37-34 at the half. The Spartans sulked on their way to the locker room, but remembered that a second half comeback was possible as they trailed by only three points.

The Spartans’ shooting went cold for quite a while in the second half. Meanwhile, the Broncos heated up at the right time, which wasn’t good news for the Spartans, who had hoped to mount a comeback to pull off the upset. Hobbs, Zach Haney and Justinian Jessup all recorded double-digit points in the half.

If there was a silver lining for the Spartans, it was the freshman guard Kaison Hammonds, who wowed the home crowd with a 3 to put three points on the board to reduce the deficit to 17, 58-41, at the 13:47 mark of the half.

Sure, SJSU’s chances of tying the score to force overtime were dim, but Zach Chappell gave the crowd something to cheer about as he had a steal and a 2 for the layup on a fastbreak. Yet, SJSU trailed 73-51 with 6:54 left in the half.

 

 

Chappell continued to work wonders as he made a pair of free throws on a fastbreak with 2:58 left in the half. Yet, SJSU trailed 83-55 at the final media timeout of the game, so the last few minutes were pointless on the Spartans’ end of the court. SJSU lost to BSU 87-64.

SJSU’s record fell to 3-12, 0-3 MW, while BSU’s record increased to 8-8, 3-0 MW.

SJSU welcomes the Utah State Aggies on Wednesday, January 16 at 7:00 pm PT.

Reign finally take down Barracuda with 3-1 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — All good things must come to an end. For the San Jose Barracuda, they are no longer undefeated against the Ontario Reign this season, thanks to Ontario taking advantage of a mistake by a young goaltender in a 3-1 victory on Friday evening at SAP Center.

Brett Sutter received a gift from Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (13-3-1) when Korenar attempted a back-handed pass behind his own net to the corner that was intercepted by Sutter. Sutter skated around the net, where his initial backhander hit the outside of the net, but he was able to grab his own rebound and put it into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the season in what proved to be the game-winning goal with just under two minutes left in the game at the 18:22 mark of the third period.

“You know it’s funny, I think that was their (Ontario’s) only chance in the third (period),” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer after the game. “Our goalie learned a lesson (tonight). You can’t reverse a puck if you don’t know where the forecheck is coming from. He won’t do it again I’m sure.”

The first period was scoreless as the Cuda outshot the Reign 11-9. The best scoring chances for both teams didn’t come until the final few minutes. Dylan Gambrell had a redirect chance just trickle to the right of the net with under three minutes remaining for San Jose. While Zack Mitchell’s buzzer beating one-timer hit the outside of the net for Ontario.

Ontario (11-17-3-2) drew first blood on the power play to start the second period. Matt Roy fed a cross-ice pass over to Matt Moulson on the left-wing and snapped home a wrist shot past Korenar top-shelf in the left corner for his 10th goal of the season at the 0:57 mark.

San Jose (21-8-1-3) evened the game up on the power play with a little over five minutes left in the middle frame. Nick DeSimone sent a pass over to the Rourke Chartier, who was back playing his first game with the Cuda since December 27th of last year, along the right boards. Chartier danced with the puck and from a tough angle snapped a beauty of a wrist shot top-shelf past Reign goalie Cal Petersen (3-6-3) for his third goal of the season at the 14:54 mark. Gambrell received the secondary assist.

“They kind gave some time on the half wall,’ said Chartier, regarding his goal. “I was looking for a pass first, but nothing really opened up and (I was) lucky enough that it goes in.”

The Barracuda out shot the Reign 13-7 in the second period and were able to kill off a late penalty to Jeffery Viel for tripping to head into the second intermission with momentum on their side.

“I liked our effort tonight,” said Cuda captain John McCarthy. “It was a tight defensive game where anything could have happened and it did.”

Moulson put the game on ice with an empty net with 69 seconds remaining for his second goal of the night and 11th on the season. Micheal Amadio and Sam Herr received assists on the goal.

Petersen had a busy night as he made 37 saves on 38 shots to earn his third victory of the season. Korenar finished the evening with 23 saves on 25 pucks he faced.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/4 on the power play. Ontario was 1/3.

McCarthy played in his 500th AHL game with the Sharks organization. He is the Barracuda’s all-time leader in games played (222), points (118), goals (52) and assists (66).

Defenseman Jacob Middleton was back in the line up since being sent back down by the San Jose Sharks.

Fight Fight Fight! San Jose’s Jon Martin tangoed with the Reign’s Chaz Reddekopp half way through the second period. Each received offsetting fighting majors.

The announced attendance was 3,141.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda host the Stockton Heat on Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 pm at SAP Center.

San Jose State back home to host Boise State Saturday afternoon

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball is set to host Boise State for a Mountain West clash on Saturday afternoon. Justin Allegri will have the Spartans call for KLIV 1590 AM and fans can watch the game on the Mountain West Network.

Game No. 15
Boise State (7-8, 2-0) at San José State (3-11, 0-2)
Saturday, January 12, 12:00 pm PT
Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, 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.

What Would a Win Mean?
The Spartans are looking for their fourth win on the season and their first in conference play since February 28, 2018 against Utah State. SJSU will also look to win their fourth game of the series with Boise State.

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 13.4 points per game and ranks second in the Mountain West with 9.4 rebounds per game. On the national scale, the big man ranks 30th in the country in rebounds per game and 26th in defensive rebounds per game. He has six double-doubles on the season, ranking third in the conference and 23rd nationally and has scored in double figures in 12-of-13 games, including 11 straight. He also has eight games with double-digit rebounds.

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.

Oh My, Oumar! 
Senior center Oumar Barry is playing his best basketball as a Spartan as of late. Against Bethune-Cookman, he finished with a then-career-high 13 points and seven 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 four games.

Barry has then scored a career-high 18 points before fouling out with 4:36 to play at Cal and led the team with 11 points at Saint Mary’s. In his last five games, he is averaging 11.4 points per game.

The Baumann Factor
Sophomore Noah Baumann is shooting lights out from beyond the arc this season. So good in fact that his 52.4% clip ranks second in the MW. He is also averaging 2.4 3’s per game, which ranks in the top 10 in the MW. He has hit at least one 3-point bucket in 12-straight games.

Series History with Boise State
Boise State holds a 31-3 lead in the all-time series. The Spartans’ three wins all came at home: February 2, 2002 (62-51), January 14, 2010 (76-74) and March 5, 2016 (68-63).

Boise State currently leads the MW with a 2-0 record in league play and are 7-8 overall. The Broncos began conference play with wins at Wyoming (69-55) and vs. San Diego State (88-64). Three players are averaging more than 10 points per game led by RJ Williams (13.3). The Broncos are led by head coach Leon Rice, who’s in his ninth season.

Barracuda outlast Reign 3-1

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda didn’t make it look pretty, but they continued to stay undefeated against the Ontario Reign in a 3-1 victory on Monday evening at SAP Center.

For San Jose, it was their second win in a row and are currently 4-0 against Ontario this season. Ontario continued their downward spiral losing their sixth game in a row.

“They’ve had our number for years,” said head coach Roy Sommer regarding his team turning the tables against their Pacific Division rival. “From Manchester (Mass) into Ontario, it’s been a while since we’ve had a winning record against them. So finally the tide turns.”

San Jose (21-7-1-3) drew first blood five minutes into the opening period. Jon Martin found Jayden Halbgewachs at the right faceoff circle and he skated around over to the left-wing and he snapped a wrist shot that beat Reign goalie Cal Petersen (2-6-3) low to the stick side at 5:41 mark. The puck looked to have deflected off Reign defenseman Austin Strand’s skate for Halbgewachs’ eight goal of the season. Kyle Wood received the secondary assist.

I went through a dry spell for a bit,” said Halbgewachs. “I had to get back to finding my game, building up that confidence. (The goals) are a huge confidence booster and every player needs that when they’re in a slump.”

Ontario (10-17-3-2) outshot San Jose 11-8 in the first period, but Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (8-5-3) held down the fort stonewalling the Reign from lighting the red lamp.

In the second period, both netminders put on a clinic out on the ice. Bibeau was aggressive on two penalty kills where he came out beyond the crease to cut off angles and did not give up any rebounds.

“I think in December I wasn’t playing as aggressive and as good as I could (have been),” said Bibeau. “When the guys had to block a shot, they blocked a shot. They boxed out and I saw the puck really well.”

Petersen was sharp late in the middle frame. Keaton Middleton fed a short-handed breakaway chance to Dylan Gambrell, but Petersen came out to challenge Gambrell and his shot sailed over the net with under four minutes left. Then with under a minute left, Vincent Praplan’s point-blank shot and captain John McCarthy’s follow-up rebound chance were turned away by Petersen.

Jon Martin single-handedly gave San Jose a big insurance goal to open up the third period. Coming in on a three-on-three rush he was able to muscle his way past Kurtis MacDermid, regain the puck and buried it under the left pad of Petersen on the short side for his sixth goal of the season at the 1:28 mark. Martin now has five points in his last three games.

“It’s been a long way for me these last three years,” said Martin. “So it’s nice to come in here and finally feel like I’m contributing a little bit on the board. I’m just trying to keep it going, helping out my linemates, they’ve been supporting me and it’s going well.”

Brett Sutter cut the lead in half on the penalty kill, thanks to a gift from Calvan Fitzgerald. He was pressured by Sam Herr in front of the Cuda net and turned over the puck right onto the stick of Sutter, who one-timed it from the slot into the upper right corner of the net. The unassisted short-handed goal was Sutter’s eight of the season and came at the 7:39 mark.

Halbgewachs sealed the game for the Cuda with his second goal of the evening with an empty-netter with exactly one minute left in the game for his ninth goal of the season.

Bibeau shined bright with a 32 save on 33 shot performance to earn his eight victory of the season. Petersen suffered his second straight loss, making 27 saves on 29 shots.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/4 on the power play. Ontario was 0/2.

On Tuesday, the Cuda recalled defensemen Cody Donaghey and Mike Brodzinki from the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL.

Coming into the game, San Jose were tied for first in the Western Conference with a home winning percentage of .750 (10-3-0-1). Their +20 point differential is the best in the Pacific Division.

Reign defenseman Daniel Brickley suffered a lower body injury in the second period when he was in a battle with Anti Suomela. His leg ended up being tied up and he fell awkwardly to the ice laying there for a while before being helped off the ice. He did not return to the game.

The announced attendance was 2,530.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Reign for a third consecutive time on Friday, January 11 at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.

Sharks Score Touchdown, Win 7-2 Over Oilers for Fourth Straight

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks won their fourth game in a row Tuesday night at home, destroying the Edmonton Oilers 7-2 to stay three points behind division-leading Vegas with two games in hand.

Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi scored two goals, Erik Karlsson picked up three assists, registering a 14th straight appearance with an assist. Marcus Sorensen scored a penalty shot goal for San Jose, Timo Meier and Brent Burns, also had multi-point efforts for San Jose and Aaron Dell made 20 saves. Alex Chiasson and Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers, who have lost eight of their last 10.

The Sharks scored enough goals to win in the first period alone, exiting the period up 3-1. Evander Kane redirected a puck off an Oiler skate behind starting goalie Cam Talbot 6:37 into the game with a Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson assisting on the wing’s 15th goal of the year. Kane now has points in six consecutive games. Marcus Sorensen converted his penalty shot chance with 7:03 left in the period and Joonas Donskoi scored just under a minute after Chiasson scored a power play goal with 5:25 left in the frame.

San Jose picked up where they left off in the second, with Kane this time redirecting the puck off his own skate past Talbot 6:32 into the middle frame. Brent Burns and Timo Meier assisted on the goal for a 4-1 lead. Milan Lucic scored just his second goal of the year 10:18 into the second, but Brent Burns power play strike at 15:37 restored the 3 goal cushion and eventually chased Talbot from the game. Talbot made 13 saves before yielding the net to Mikko Koskinen.

Joe Thornton scored on an intended pass to Lukas Radil 1:04 into the third and Donskoi scored his seventh goal in six games at the 10:44 mark to kick the extra point. Erik Karlsson assisted on the goal to collect his third multiassist game in a row.

The Sharks hit the road to face the Pacific division leaders Vegas Thursday night at 7:00 pm. The Golden Knights have won their last seven.

Karlsson Assists in 13th-Straight, Sharks Beat Kings 3-1

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Photo credit: @NBCSSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks extended their win-streak to three games Monday night, beating the rival Los Angeles Kings 3-1 at the SAP Center. Erik Karlsson collected his 33rd, 34th and 35th assists to put his streak at 13-games with a helper, becoming the sixth defenseman in league history to do so.

Tomas Hertl scored his 15th goal of the season, Joonas Donskoi stayed hot with his 11th of the year and Joe Thornton pitched in with an empty-net power play strike. Martin Jones made 22 saves and picked up his first assist as a San Jose Shark in the victory. Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings.

Donskoi picked up his seventh point in six games, beating Kings goalie Jack Campbell on a rebound off an Evander Kane shot with 2:17 left in the first period. Karlsson picked up the secondary assist, his first of three assists on the night.

Anze Kopitar tied the game 3:42 into the period after redirecting a Dustin Brown pass behind Jones to tie the game. Ilya Kovalchuk also assisted on the then-tying goal.

Tomas Hertl broke the tie at the 9:09 mark after Martin Jones fed Karlsson behind the Sharks net to start the rush. Karlsson snapped the puck from just inside the San Jose blue line to Hertl as he entered the Kings zone two zones away. Hertl buried the back-hander to put San Jose up 2-1. Joe Thornton would add his seventh goal of the year with 21 seconds left in play, reeling in Karlsson’s clearing pass to put the puck in the empty net. The freebie goal came with the Sharks on the power play, finishing the night 1 for 3.

The Sharks face the Edmonton Oilers in the second game of a back-to-back Tuesday night at 7:30 pm. Aaron Dell is expected to start.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Any truth to a Aaron Dell trade before the NHL trade deadline?

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Photo credit: @sjsharkshistory

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Awful lot of talk about trading Sharks goalie Aaron Dell. How serious is the talk and can the Sharks afford to let him go in a deal?

#2 If a deal were to go through do you see Antoine Bibeau getting the call from AHL’s SJ Barracuda to back up Marty Jones?

#3 What would you attribute as the main reason why the Sharks would consider dealing Dell?

#4 The Sharks did have a 5-1 lead over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night in Colorado, but saw the Aves nearly tied up the game, coming within a goal in a 5-4 win for the Sharks.

#5 The Sharks host one of the hottest teams in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning, at SAP Center on Saturday night.

Len does the Sharks podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose State drops conference opener to Fresno State 73-53

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose State Spartans won two games in a row, but ended 2018 with a loud thud following a three-game losing skid on a Bay Area road trip. Moreover, it was up to SJSU to open up 2019 on a positive note in a rivalry game versus the Fresno State Bulldogs at the Event Center Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, the result was negative to say the least.

Prior to the tipoff, Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced his starting lineup of Brae Ivey, Noah Baumann, Craig LeCesne, Michael Steadman and Oumar Barry.

The Spartans won the tip and the game went underway in San Jose. Barry made a layup in the paint to get things started, but Nate Grimes tied the score at two apiece and Noah Blackwell put the Bulldogs up 5-2 with a 3-pointer at the 18:56 mark of the first period. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Fresno State responded to the Spartans’ first bucket of the game with a 9-0 run. But SJSU countered, thanks to Seneca Knight’s 3 at 15:56.

The Spartans were back in business as Baumann followed suit with a 3 of his own and Ivey made a couple of layups on the fastbreak. SJSU cut Fresno State’s lead to six at 12:44. Steadman knocked down two jumpers in the paint to help the Spartans within two just 30 seconds later.

It was a little over 10 minutes when the home crowd realized Fresno State refused to go down without a fight if they haven’t already done so. Blackwell, DeShon Taylor and Sam Bittner poured in the points for the Bulldogs, who led 26-19 with 8:27 left.

Soon, the game turned into a rather feisty exchange of 3s. Both teams hit 3s of their own, beginning with Ivey. New Williams responded. Then, Barry answered. The score was 29-25 Spartans with 6:33 left.

With 3:29 left, Fresno State led 31-25 at the final media timeout of the first. If anything was in favor of the Spartans, Ivey led the home team with seven points.

Still, Fresno State refused to back down. The Bulldogs went on a whopping 16-0 run to close out the first with a 47-25 lead. The Spartans went to the locker room in hopes of coming up with a successful plan to gain a much-needed advantage in the second half.

Both teams exchanged leads in a back and forth second period, but the Spartans’ offense gained some traction in the half. There was a good amount of 3s, free throws, jumpers and layups.

Fast forward almost 10 minutes later, and the Spartans’ shooting pretty much went cold except for Steadman’s 3 with 6:03 left in the second. With a little over two minutes left, Zach Chappell made a pair of free throws on the fastbreak to pull the Spartans within 19. But, Fresno State let the clock wind down, and SJSU lost by a final score of 73-53.

The Spartans head to Reno for a road tilt against the No. 6 Nevada Wolf Pack Wednesday, January 9 at 8:00 pm PT on CBS Sports.

San Jose State opens up conference play Wednesday vs. Fresno State

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball concluded their nonconference portion of the schedule with a lowly 3-9 record. The Spartans now turn their attention to Mountain West teams for conference play, starting this Wednesday against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Justin Allegri will have the play-by-play call for the Mountain West Network and KLIV 1590 AM.

Here’s what you need to know before Wednesday’s rivalry game:

Game #13
Fresno State (9-3) at San Jose State (3-9)
Wednesday, January 2 at 7:00 pm PT
Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

Live Stats
Fans can view live stats of all the San Jose State 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 Spartans’ win mean?
SJSU is 0-5 in conference openers since joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season. Two of those losses were at the hands of Nevada while the other three were against Utah State, including last season in a 86-72 loss in Logan, Utah. A win would also be the fourth of the season, tying last season’s overall total.

On the other had, Fresno State has a 1-5 record in MW openers.

Peace out, 2018! 
After two close and promising losses at Stanford and Cal, the Spartans closed out the nonconference slate on a bitter note as they were held to a season-low 45 points in a 75-45 loss at Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif. SJSU finished the nonconference slate 3-9.

Sharpest shooter in the west (and nation)
Sophomore Noah Baumann ranks second in the nation in three-point FG percentage. He is touting a 56.6% clip on 30-of-53 shooting. He is also averaging 2.5 3’s per game, which ranks in the top-10 in the MW.

Baumann is averaging 14.8 points per game in the last five games and is touting a gaudy 60% clip from 3-point range (18-30).

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 13.4 points per game and ranks fourth in the MW with 9.2 rebounds per game. He also ranks 42nd nationally in rebounds per game and 39th in defensive rebounds per game. He has 5 double-doubles on the season, ranking third in the MW and has scored in double figures in 11-of-12 games, including 10 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.

Oh my, Oumar! 
Senior center Oumar Barry is playing his best basketball as a Spartan as of late. Against 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. Barry also blocked 2 shots and was 7-of-10 at the free throw line to help the Spartans to a win.

Barry followed up with another double-double against Stanford (15 points, 10 rebound). After playing 38 career games without recording a double-double, he now has 2 in the last 4 games.

Barry then scored a career-high 18 points before fouling out with 4:36 to play at Cal and led the team with 11 points at Saint Mary’s. In his last 5 games, he leads the team with 14.8 points per game and is averaging 7.6 rebounds.

Longstanding rivalry
The longstanding rivalry between Fresno State and San Jose State will see the 172nd game of the series played on Wednesday. The series dates back to Dec. 18, 1916 in a 58-32 Spartan victory. Since then, SJSU has posted a 53-31 record in home games.

The Bulldogs enter the game currently third in the MW standings at 9-3. Their last game was a 64-60 loss to Utah Valley, which snapped a 7-game win streak, among the longest in the nation at the time. A pair of Bulldogs are averaging 18 points per game in Braxton Huggins and Deshon Taylor, ranking in the top-6 in the MW scoring standings. Fresno State is led by first year head coach Justin Hutson.