Monday's WAC basketball report

Mark Emmons goes long on SJSU's Justin Graham.

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Does UH offer a major in videography? PTW is asking because Dayton Morinaga has more from the Rainbow Warriors that would qualify for academic credit. Gotta love the headline on Brian McInnis' latest feature. Jeff Portnoy is Vander-ing about a couple of omission from the All-WAC selections.

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AW Prince has a few words about Deonte Burton's selection as the FOY. Wolf Pack defense and boardplay are covered in Chris Murray's latest.

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Has New Mexico State discovered a two-hour energy drink? Jason Groves recounts the latest efforts by the Aggies. Jason also posted his various All-WAC selections and the reasons for them prior to the official announcement. It contains some different names than 'the usual'.

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Kraig Williams leads off the USU coverage. Shawn Harrison also checks in while Tony Jones warns about the invasion of the bid snatchers.

The WAC on Thursday

Shawn Harrison goes in depth on Tyler Newbold in an especially good feature. TN is the national leader in a very important statistical category.

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It's unclear who made the actual decision and how it was determined but Tony Jones/Aggieville lauds Coach Marvin Menzies for having Wendell McKines redshirt this season.

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Daniel Light is here and here with Matt James here all about Fresno State hoops -- it's the Battle of the Bulldogs in Ruston tonight.

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We didn't know Jack Nixon was fluent in French but mais oui -- check out Jason Groves' latest for the meaning to all this.

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Vander Joaquim receives the full feature treatment today in an article by Brian McInnis. Dayton Morinaga is loaded with video on the return of Bill Amis plus UH taking on the Idaho Vandals tonight.

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Nick Jezierny looks at the task of taking on Adrian Oliver plus Justin Graham as the Broncos put their undefeated WAC record on the line against host San Jose State.

Wednesday's WAC world

The non-conference records, good, medium and bad, mean nothing now as the real thing begins tonight.

Louisiana Tech is at Boise State. Ethan Conley offers a feature on DeAndre Brown and Olu Ashaolu acting as role models for the younger Bulldogs.

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Hawaii leaves the islands to face league behemoth Utah State -- Dayton Morinaga has a report plus video.

Brian McInnis offers something similar but also serves up a tasty WAC team-by-team preview/review. Brian also wrote a Court Sense blog entry with interesting quotes from Stew Morrill.

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Chris Murray takes a look at each member of the Wolf Pack roster in a very good read.

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Sam Wasson at Bleed Crimson provides his weekly interview with Marvin Menzies.

Jason Groves previews the New Mexico State matchup with and at Idaho and wrote a commentary plus, who knows what this means but Troy Gillenwater, Hamidu Rahman and Wendell McKines tripped to Moscow.

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Nick Jezierny looks at the WAC as a whole and see a hole, especially compared to last season.Plus, the Idaho Statesman encapsulizes each WAC team plus what the BSU players will miss the most and least about the other WAC destinations.

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Marek Warszawski sees a backcourt offensive juggernaut with SJSU playing tonight in Fresno. Jeff Davis blogs about the Red Wave trickling into the Save Mart Center.

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Kraig Williams gives some pub to Tai Wesley, Shawn Harrison writes about the WAC this season and also Hawaii arriving at The Spectrum tonight while Tony Jones calls USU the best team in a lesser (from the 2009-2010 edition) WAC. The Standard-Examiner expects the crowd to be smaller tonight since the Aggie students are on break.

San Jose State gets by Eastern Washington

In a rematch from one month ago in Cheney, WA (which the Spartan won 67-60), San Jose State University used Justin Graham's jumper with six seconds remaining to top Eastern Washington 70-69.

Adrian Oliver led with 29 points.

Here is the game report from SJSU athletics.

Justin Graham WAC POW

San Jose State senior Justin Graham is honored for his accomplishments this past week:

San Jose State’s Justin Graham has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Graham.

Graham, a senior guard from Ripon, Calif. (Ripon HS), led San Jose State with a pair of back-to-back 20-plus point performances for the first time in his career as the Spartans split a pair of road games last week. Graham posted 20 points with a career-high 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals in a 72-63 loss at UTSA. He extended his streak of made three-point baskets to six with a 2-for-2 performance in the game. Graham led the Spartans with 21 points, a team-high five assists and four steals, plus six rebounds in 37 minutes of play in an 85-70 road win at UC Irvine.

On the week, Graham averaged a team-high 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game. He shot 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field and 60 percent (3-of-5) from three-point range.

Other nominees:

* Boise State senior guard La'Shard Anderson
* Fresno State freshman guard Kevin Olekaibe
* Idaho junior guard Deremy Geiger
* Louisiana Tech sophomore guard Brandon Gibson
* Nevada freshman guard Denote Burton
* New Mexico State junior forward Troy Gillenwater
* Utah State senior guard Pooh Williams

San Jose State falls to Santa Clara

Free throws. Make that missed free throws did in San Jose State. Oh and some guy named John Bryant.

SCU defeats San Jose State in men's basketball
Jon Wilner
San Jose Mercury News
12/03/2008

Neither team was at its best. Not close to its best. San Jose State, coming off a nine-day break, looked out of sync. Santa Clara, coming off a trip from hell — five flights over two days to get home from Missoula, Mont. — looked weary.

The Broncos had the lead, lost it, regained it, lost it again and then mustered the energy to snatch it back in the final minutes and escape with a 59-56 victory Wednesday before an announced crowd of 2,046 at San Jose State's McPherson Court...

Go here for the remainder.

The Spartan Daily features SJSU men's basketball

The Spartan Daily, the San Jose State student newspaper, has a feature on the men's basketball team>

SJSU men's basketball has tournament hopes
Peter Hironaka
The Spartan Daily
11/5/08

The SJSU men's basketball team kicks off the 2008-2009 season this Thursday in an exhibition hosting Menlo College.

Next week, the regular season starts at South Dakota State.

The team brings with it this year great expectations following the team's best season in seven years with a record of 13-19. Wins from the previous two seasons combined for 11.

The Spartans have teams around the Western Athletic Conference impressed, as they are picked to finish third in the coach's poll...

Go here for the remainder.

You say to-may-to, we say to-mah-to

There are apples and oranges debates. But even an apple to apple comparison is not necessarily kosher. Here's what we mean and how this applies to WAC basketball.

Where did we get the idea for the following? A message board post on the Silver and Blue Nevada sports fan site did the trick. It's a long string with predictions about how the Wolf Pack will do overall this season, with some concerns and opinions interspersed about certain teams and players. The specific post that captured our attention included these numbers and comparison about San Jose State guard Justin Graham and Nevada backcourter Armon Johnson:

Justin Graham
SEASON MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF FG% FT% 3P% PPS
2007-08 32.0 10.7 2.4 2.9 4.5 .65 1.5 .4 2.1 .462 .721 .429 1.41

Armon Johnson
SEASON MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF FG% FT% 3P% PPS
2007-08 31.2 11.5 4.0 3.4 2.4 1.42 .8 .2 2.1 .482 .776 346 1.36

We're going to be a bit all over the map here with our ramblings here but bear with us.

First off, there's simply no congruent way of comparing these two players (or any players) unless an individual was also able to witness Graham and Johnson in the majority of games each played last season. Only their respective coaching staffs can claim such a viewing and even then the experience is too team/player centric to be valid -- how many games did Mark Fox and his staff view Graham and George Nessman and staff see Johnson?

Matching numbers head-to-head is an oft-used but also an oft-invalid comparison. Granted, if Johnson had scored 20 points a game and Graham but seven then there would be a much greater validity to strictly focusing on their numbers. But the season stats for the pair are fairly close, with an overall lead to Johnson.

But keep in mind that Graham missed five league games (two Fresno State games, one each against Idaho, New Mexico State and Bakersfield) due to shoulder and wrist injuries suffered in a road game in Hawaii on January 14. He never fully recovered even though he returned to action on February 7, thus skewing his seasonal numbers to an immeasurable degree.

Plus, do remember that Johnson enjoyed played alongside much more talented teammates:

*** Marcelus Kemp - a 20 points per game scorer who earned first-team all-WAC status in 2007-2008

*** JaVale McGee - a 14.1 points a contest scorer who nabbed 7.3 rebounds each time out as well as being a second-team all-WAC pick in 2007-2008

*** Brandon Fields - a 12.4 points a game scorer who was the co-defensive player of the season for the Wolf Pack

*** Lyndale Burleson - a member of the all -WAC defensive team in 2007-2008

Of course, this talent surrounding Johnson was the proverbial sword that cut both ways. It took some degree of pressure and defensive focus off him but his points per game scoring average in 2007-2008 was also lower as a result of his talented teammates (although his assists per contest numbers were probably higher because of this factor). Johnson will certainly score more points in 2008-2009 and possibly maintain his assists totals but such will not necessarily be the appropriate measurement tools from which to make any judgment.

Graham was a redshirt freshman in 2007-2008 playing alongside a bevy of other newcomers, none on the level of Kemp or McGee. Graham was also in the position of having to generate offensive opportunities while being the sole creator on the Spartan team, thus resulting at least to a degree in a higher number of turnovers.

It's our expectation that Graham will enjoy a better season in 2008-2009 than his initial one even though his scoring average may drop and possibly even his assists per game numbers will do likewise. You might be saying 'huh?" right about now.

The sentiment in the above paragraph is based upon the addition of Spartan newcomer Adrian Oliver. He should end up this coming season as the top shot taker and points producer on the team and will certainly be near the top in assists. But it's not that Oliver will reduce Graham's effectiveness. On the contrary, Oliver's creative ability will ease the burden that Graham carried solely last go-around.

As an aside, those who don't watch WAC basketball but still offer previews and predictions based solely on season numbers may very well have Graham as not performing as well as a sophomore as he did as a freshman come their 2009-2010 analysis. But this will be an invalid evaluation. What to watch for will be Graham's proficiency this season. The same goes for Johnson.

But it is interesting that the WAC coaches just selected Johnson as the expected Player of the Year. That undeniably says something. Teammates Brandon Fields and Luke Babbitt landed spots on the Second Team.

Graham didn't appear on either the coaches or media all-WAC squads, with teammate C.J. Webster receiving a first team nod.

So there you have it -- numbers do mean something but which numbers and just what?.

Maybe Ken Pomeroy can utilize some of his intricate mathematical formulas and determine why player A is 'better' than player B.

Or does it sometimes boil down to who had a better overall season and not necessarily is tops in individual numbers?

Oh boy, that's a whole 'nother argument.

San Jose State tops LA TECH 64-62

The play-in game is a done deal but not without its share of excitement. Here's what we wrote about it for another site:

Oh my, if you didn't have a heart condition before this game, you probably do now.

San Jose State led 64-62 with 21.8 seconds remaining after Justin Graham hit just one of two free throws. The Bulldogs brought the ball down but couldn't get a good look and the Spartans fouled with 5.2 seconds on the clock. It was an intentional foul in the sense that SJSU still had fouls to give before LTU would enter the bonus.

Tech then called timeout and on the in-bounds play, Dwayne Lathen missed inside and a Bulldog tip also was errant. San Jose rebounded and that was it. SJSU played zone almost the entire game but went man-to-man at the very end.

DaShawn Wright led with 17 points (8-11 shooting) and six rebounds, followed by Tim Pierce with 16. C.J. Webster added 13 and Chris Oakes 11.

The score was 54-54 at the 6:51 mark. The Techsters jumped ahead by four, 54-50, but San Jose State scored the next eight points. LTU then fought back and went ahead but a Webster bucket made it 60-60 with 2:55 remaining.

A Wright 12-footer in the lane gave the Spartan a 62-60 lead but Drew Washington's layup tied the score yet again.

Pierce made one of two free throws and JC Clark missed on a scoop shot leading to the aforementioned foul that put Justin Graham on the foul line with 21.8 ticks left.

The first half ended with the Spartans ahead by four points, 31-27. Tim Pierce led all scorers after 20 minutes with 13 points. Shooting-wise, SJSU went 12-29 overall, 1-5 on treys and 6-8 from the foul line. The Bulldogs numbers: 10-25 from the floor, 4-12 from long distance and 3-3 on free throws. San Jose State grabbed 19 rebounds, seven offensively, to 14 for LA TECH. LTU committed eight turnovers, the Spartans six.

For the game, San Jose State out-rebounded the Techsters 38-25. Pierce grabbed nine while Webster and Oakes nabbed seven apiece.

Clark was the en fuego Bulldog from long distance tonight, nailing 5-7 three-point attempts leading to his 17 points -- this from a player shooting 31% on treys coming into the game. As a team, LTU was shooting 32% from three-point range coming into tonight's game but concluded this one 12-26, taking close to half its 55 shots from long range. LA TECH's season leading scorer Kyle Gibson had 14, a couple below his average and dramatic improvement over the 25 and 28 point totals he had managed against SJSU earlier this season. Both Gibson and Clark played the entire 40 minutes.

Last Saturday, the Bulldogs went 23-31 from the foul line, getting dribble-drive penetration far too often. Tonight they went 4-4. Yes, you read that correctly.

Overall, San Jose State went 26-55 from the floor, 11-15 from the foul line and 1-9 on threes.

Our take on the upcoming ALL-WAC teams

The 2007-2008 All-WAC teams are apparently to be announced on Sunday so we wanted to beat the voters who count to it with our own offerings.

As a reminder, here are the pre-season selections by the WAC coaches. Surprisingly, there were a few clunkers, especially on the second team.

Preseason Coaches All – WAC Team
First –Team

Jaycee Carroll Utah State (Preseason Player of the Year)
Reggie Larry Boise State
Justin Hawkins New Mexico State
Marcelus Kemp Nevada
Fred Peete New Mexico State

Second-Team

Matt Nelson Boise State
Kevin Bell Fresno State
Hector Hernandez Fresno State
Demarshay Johnson Nevada
Bobby Nash Hawaii

Fred Peete just never put it together this season and we'll be very surprised if he even makes the second-team this season. He's certainly been helpful to NMSU -- no doubt -- but not having a mainstay season.

Hector Hernandez was among the most disappointing as he seemed to really miss playing alongside Dominic McGuire and Quinton Hosley. His numbers, 9.5 ppg on a shooting percentage of .388 -- this for a 6-9 senior -- were unremarkable. Hernandez scored 11.2 ppg. and shot .453% as a junior. To his credit, he did grab 7.3 rpg. this season.

Demarshay Johnson had moments this season but nothing equating to any ALL-WAC status. The same with Bobby Nash.

There are a number of newcomers we talk about later in this piece who deserve a position on the ALL-WAC second team.


Very interestingly, the pixel-stained wretches -- other wise known collectively as the WAC newspaper beat reporters -- somehow had the foresight to include Kevin Bell of Fresno State on their first team choices -- they didn't pick a second five.

Preseason Media All-WAC Team
First-Team

Jaycee Carroll Utah State (Preseason Player of the Year)
Reggie Larry Boise State
Kevin Bell Fresno State
Justin Hawkins New Mexico State
Marcelus Kemp Nevada

Surprisingly, Nevada's JaVale McGee is nowhere to be seen. His numbers were small last year but it was obvious that he would be the starting center for the Wolf Pack this season and be playing major minutes.

Headlining the For-What-It's-Worth Department, here are our 2007-2008 ALL-WAC selections as selected today:

Jaycee Carroll - nobody could stop him, period and this is a 6-2 guard not necessarily graced with the ultimate athletic prowess.
Kevin Bell - seriously, the Bulldogs might have won one, maybe two conference games this season without Bell.
Marcelus Kemp - Without his scoring and ability to draw the focus of a team's defense, everyone else on the Wolf Pack would have been less effective.
Justin Hawkins - He was so often the glue that kept the Aggies rolling despite the absences of various players.
Reggie Larry - He led his team in minutes played, scoring, rebounding, offenive rebounding, blocked shots and was a close second in steals.

For self-disclosure sake, we didn't forsee Kevin Bell's shooting improvement nor the overall effectiveness of Reggie Larry. If it was the pre-season, our top five would probably have included Boise State's Matt Nelson in place of his teammate. Nelson had a fine season but it's just that Larry enjoyed an even better one.


Now Kevin Bell could certainly qualify as Most Improved Player (MIP) but we're actually going with Boise State's Tyler Tiedeman whose scoring average went from 4.4 ppg. as a junior to 14.0 ppg. this season. His shooting was 540% overall and an amazing .503% on a team-leading 145 three-point attempts. Tiedeman shot .472% overall last season and .397% from long range on 57 three-point attempts. Nobody predicted such a dramatic improvement.

Speaking of Bell, he scored 18.7 ppg. this season, shooting .455% on 422 attempts and drawing 206 foul shots -- this after shooting less than .400% last year.

Lousiana Tech's Kyle Gibson is also deserving of mention in the MIP category despite the poor season for the Bulldogs. Gibson scored 15.5 ppg. and grabbed 5.5 rpg. after 4.5 ppg. and 1.6 rpg. in 2006-2007.

Hawaii's Riley Luettgerodt deserves listing here for doubling his scoring average this season from 6.2 ppg. to 12.3.

NMSU's Jonathan Gibson too as he produced 12.5 ppg. while shooting .422% on a team-leading 161 three-point attempts. Last year, it was 2.6 ppg. and a .338 overall shooting percentage, .286% on his threes.


As for WAC Freshman of the Year and the WAC Freshmen Team:

The top award must go to Armon Johnson of Nevada. Johnson scored 11.7 ppg. on .496% overall shooting. while adding 4.1 rpg. and 97 assists.

Trying to avoid any bias, we see the runner up as Justin Graham of San Jose State, despite missing some leagues games due to injury. He scored 11.6 ppg. with a team-leading 68 assists while shooting .494% overall and .438% on threes.

Utah State's Tai Wesley is right behind, his placement due to the lesser role he played on his respective team. Wesley scored 10.2 ppg. while nabbing 4.4 rpg. He led the Aggies with 23 blocked shots and also garnered 64 assists .

NMSU's Wendell McKines is also a worthy mention what with his 6.7 ppg. on .591% from the floor and 6.1 rpg. Teammates Herb Pope and Jahmar Young produced well once eligible but we'll go with McKines out of the three. That certainly should make some jaws drop.

Also throw Louisiana Tech's Dwayne Lathen in the mix for consideration as he has enjoyed a sparkling second half of the season.


The Top WAC Newcomer is a battle royal. Idaho's Jordan Brooks with 12.9 ppg., 6.3 rpg.,129 assists and 47 steals as the focal point for the Vandal offense cannot be discounted. Utah State's Gary Wilkinson put up 13.3 ppg. and 6.9 rpg.while shooting .575%. Two San Jose Staters are deserving of mention: C.J. Webster with 10. 8 ppg., 6.3 rpg. and 60 assists and Chris Oakes' 10.7 ppg. and 7.5 rpg.

Ulitimately, we have to go with Brooks for his role and the importance of it in making the relatively weak Vandals go.

One coming and one going

With the return of Hatila Passos from suspension and the injury to Justin Graham, one WAC team has bolstered its forces even more while another just lost its most effective player.

First Herb Pope was finally declared eligible and now Passos re-joins the Aggie frontline so Coach Marvin Menzies is close to being fully loaded with his roster. NMSU just lost to Utah State 74-62 in Logan but has a homecourt rematch coming up on January 26 (scheduled to be shown on ESPN2). That contest may very well be the game of the conference this season in the WAC.

San Jose State just received about the worst news possible as redshirt freshman Justin Graham suffered a broken elbow last night in Hawaii and is out indefinitely. He is the one player the Spartans could least afford to lose being the initiator on offense. There is no one close to Graham's ability as a fill-in on the SJSU roster.

The NMSU Aggies pull it off

Coach Marvin Menzies' squad did a number on Boise State Thursday night and in Boise. 33 in particular from freshman Jahmar Young.

The Aggies also out-rebounded the Broncos 41-29 and committed just eight turnovers to 16 for BSU. Plus, this all took place with ever-reliable Justin Hawkins shooting an inconceivable 3-18 from the floor. New Mexico State win with its best player having the poorest shooting night of his career!

NMSU just may be tougher this season than given credit for to date -- ahem, as long as bail can be met (sorry, couldn't resist):

BSU men bounced from WAC's top spot
NICK JEZIERNY
Idaho Statesman
1/11/08

The Boise State Broncos contained Justin Hawkins, New Mexico State's All-WAC forward.

They didn't have to deal with starting center Hatila Passos, backup guard Paris Carter or highly touted freshman recruit Herb Pope, all of whom are dealing with academic issues.

Still, Boise State dropped a 76-73 decision Thursday night in Taco Bell Arena because a freshman playing his fifth college game dropped 33 points on a stunned Bronco defense.

On a sprained ankle, no less.

Jahmar Young - who bonded out of jail Monday after being arrested for missing a hearing on an indecent exposure charge from last summer - put the Aggies (9-9, 3-0 WAC) alone atop of the WAC.

Young didn't play in Saturday's win over Fresno State after he sustained a high-ankle sprain a week ago at Idaho. He had scored 37 points all season.

"He did a number on us," BSU coach Greg Graham said. "We weren't sure if he was going to play, and he had a big, big night."

That's what was frustrating to the Broncos and 7,054 fans. BSU held Hawkins - a 19-point scorer - to 3-of-18 shooting and 14 points. The Broncos also shot 49 percent from the field but still came up short. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak by BSU (11-4, 2-1) and knocked the Broncos out of first place in the WAC...

Go here for the remainder.

Reno Gazette-Journal features San Jose State's Justin Graham

It is still a work-in-progress but the transformation, makeover, blow it up and start from scratch revolution in the San Jose State men's basketball program is finally displaying signs of progress, both on and off the court.

The epitome of such is redshirt freshman Justin Graham as you will read below.

Yes, there will be starts and stops, potholes and bumps -- especially this season -- but the academic horrors and the knowing it's going to be a last place finish or close to it, along with zero hope of any betterment, has been put to rest, exorcised if you will.

WAC basketball: Graham's shots, study habits, are tops in WAC
STEVE SNEDDON
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
1/9/2008
Maybe Justin Graham isn't the perfect freshman basketball player, but he's pretty darn close.

As a redshirt freshman point guard, he has made a major impact for the San Jose State Spartans, who host Nevada on Thursday. He's leading the team in scoring, at 13.2 points a game, and has helped them to a 7-7 overall record, after they won all of five games last season.

And he could receive his bachelor's degree by December in his sophomore season. And he is expected to graduate no later than spring 2009. Still, performances like his 29 points in the Spartans' 85-79 home loss to Hawaii last Saturday are catching most of the attention.

"He's going to be one of the bright stars in this league for a while the way he's playing," said Hawaii coach Bob Nash this week. "He's an unbelievable freshman to come in and get 29 points against us."

The 6-foot-4 Graham's statistics for the season are staggering, considering he's averaging only eight shots from the field per game. The kid with the flowing brown hair has hit 56-of-112 shots from the field for 50 percent, including 10-of-22 from 3-point range for 45.5 percent. He's at 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals. Plus, he's managed to keep his humility...

Go here for the remainder.

So where are we at?

No, I'm not asking for you to check your GPS device, I'm talking about the state of the WAC after the first week of conference play. Let's check-in on this past weekend, keeping in mind that Utah State and Nevada -- the most interesting matchup -- was postponed when Mother Nature developed a case of WAC conference interruptus.

Go ahead and toss them daggers dipped in bias at my armor-plated bias but redshirt freshman Justin Graham went for 29 points against Hawaii on Saturday night--- hands down the best performance this weekend. A senior laden Hawaii squad just could not handle him as he went over, under, around and through the Rainbow Warriors, earning an amazing 17 fouls shots. Graham wasn't necessarily en fuego, he was simply unstoppable.

But yes, the Spartans lost.

Utah State's Tai Wesley, yet another freshman, did Hawaii in earlier in the week with an outstanding performance of 27 points.

On to this weekend:

Justin Hawkins has been an Aggie mainstay since he stepped foot on the court in Las Cruces but Jonathan Gibson has been the biggest more-than-pleasant surprise so far this season for Marvin Menzies. The Aggies have enough role players to be formidable if Hawkins and Gibson can keep up the scoring.

New Mexico State 77, Fresno State 67

N.M.–New Mexico State men’s basketball senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins had a game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Aggies a 77-67 win over Fresno State, Saturday, Jan. 5 in Las Cruces.


In NMSU’s WAC home opener, sophomore guard Jonathan Gibson added 17 points while senior guard Fred Peete recorded 10 points en route to the Aggies snapping a three-game losing streak to Fresno State.

For the Bulldogs, senior guards Kevin Bell scored 19 points and Eddie Miller provided 11 points.

AND

Credit Bob Nash's team for playing Utah State very tough in Logan and for beating SJSU in San Jose. Maybe the Rainbow Warriors are jelling and can remain effective with its quartet of fine jump shooters and one big man for the remainder of conference play.

Hawai‘i 85, San Jose State 79

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The University of Hawai`i men's basketball team handed first-year head coach Bob Nash his first Western Athletic Conference victory and picked up its first road win of the year by holding off San Jose State, 85-79, Saturday night at The Event Center.

Hawai`i led by double-digits for much of the game and held off a late Spartan rally to improve to 5-9 overall and 1-1 in the WAC. San Jose State dropped to 6-7 overall and 0-2 in the WAC.
UH continued it dominance over San Jose State with its 10th straight win over the Spartans and fifth straight in San Jose. Hawai`i has not lost to the Spartans since 2003.

Matt Gibson led UH with 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds before fouling out in the waning minutes. Bobby Nash and Riley Luettgerodt each poured in 14 points, while Jared Dillinger added 13.

UH's win offset a stellar performance by San Jose State's freshman guard Justin Graham who finished with a game-high 29 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 14-of-17 shooting from the line

AND

The best part about the season Greg Graham and the Broncos have enjoyed so far is that any rumbling about the need for a men's basketball equivalent of Chris Petersen @ BSU has been muzzled. Let's hope it never resurfaces as Graham, one of the good guys in college coaching, is as fine a coach as can be had up Idaho way. Whether it's Nelson Larry or Larry Nelson, the Boise Staters have a formidable duo in the frontcourt, one that has carried the team to date with no sign of abatement.

Boise State 95, Idaho 84


MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) -Matt Nelson and Reggie Larry scored 25 points each Saturday as they led Boise State to a 95-84 win over Idaho.

The victory extends the Broncos' winning streak over the Vandals to 13 straight games.

Paul Noonan added 12 points for BSU (11-3, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference).

The Vandals (3-10, 0-2) were led by Jordan Brooks, who scored 22 points. Mike Hall added 20 for UI.

Idaho tied the game at 56-56 with 18:25 left in the second half following a pair of Mike Hall free throws that came as a result of a technical foul by Larry. The Vandals then took the lead on a Brooks basket, 58-56, with 17:58 left.

But that was it for UI. The Broncos went on a 15-2 run that featured three Larry 3-pointers that built the BSU lead to 73-60.

Go here for complete game writeups.

Boise State starts the WAC strong

Boise State had a couple of momentary lapses but came through like the experienced team that it is once the score got close. Matt Nelson and Reggie Larry provide a frontcourt duo other WAC teams cannot match and Coach Greg Graham has assembled complementary pieces around them.

Bronco veterans combine for 64 points in win over Spartans
NICK JEZIERNY
Idaho Statesman
1/03/08

The Boise State men's basketball team did more than win its WAC opener Wednesday night - the Broncos also showed the rest of the conference that with four senior starters they are going to be tough to rattle.
BSU won for the ninth time in 10 games, riding the performances of its four seniors in taking a 78-63 win over San Jose State in front of 3,984 fans at Taco Bell Arena.

Seniors Matt Bauscher, Reggie Larry, Matt Nelson and Tyler Tiedeman combined for 64 points and made big play after big play to help squash a comeback bid by the improved Spartans (6-6 overall, 0-1 WAC).

"Boise taught us a lesson in experience and hanging in there and making plays," SJSU coach George Nessman said.

The Broncos (10-3, 1-0) led 40-25 early in the second half when the Spartans rallied and eventually cut the deficit to a single point on two occasions, the last at 56-55 with just under 10 minutes to go in the game...

Go here for the remainder.

San Jose State's Pistol Pete

The analogy isn't really accurate other than the floppy hair but here's an informative article on San Jose State redshirt freshman Justin Graham. WAC fans have yet to have the opportunity to see him but that will come in January.

No 'Pistol' Yet, But Kid Can Play
San Jose State basketball player Justin Graham
Ron Agostini
Modesto Bee
December 18, 2007

CUPERTINO -- Not to get carried away, but Justin Graham already has been compared to Pete Maravich.

Graham, the redshirt freshman point guard for San Jose State, understands the lunacy here. He's barely begun his collegiate career, yet his name is mentioned in the same breath with one of the most crowd-pleasing players in hoops history, an icon who averaged an NCAA-record 44.2 points per game for three seasons (1968-70) at LSU.

Which was why Graham was surprised when a fan approached him during the Spartans' season-opening tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

"Before our second game, he came up to me and said he was really impressed and that I reminded him of Pete Maravich," Graham said. "He then asked me if I knew who Pete Maravich was, and I said, 'Of course I know Pistol Pete!' "

Never mind that Graham was born in 1988, the year Maravich died. Fact is, Graham's floppy hair and flair for the audacious already has been noticed at a university anxious to revive its down-and-out basketball program.

The Spartans have kicked off that quest with, of all people, a 19-year-old graduate of Ripon High.

"We took over a program in need of a makeover, one might say an extreme makeover. We targeted Justin," San Jose State coach George Nessman said. "He is going to be a big-time player. He's not there yet, but he is dynamic."

Graham made an immediate impression in his collegiate debut Nov. 15 against Middle Tennessee State, the home team. With the Spartans behind by a point with seconds to go, he launched a perfect pass to back-cutting DaShawn Wright for the winning layup.

The next night -- after Graham heard the Maravich praise -- San Jose State and Appalachian State were tied with the game down to the final possession. Nessman told his team to clear the court and let the mop top do his business. Graham complied by slashing down the key and scoring the winner.

Two games. Two winning plays. Nice start.

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