Justin Graham WAC POY

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

Another writeup on last night's game

Enjoyed the opening to this game report on last night's matchup:

San Jose State handles UC Irvine
Anteaters lose early lead and Coach Turner loses his cool, earning a late ejection in setback.
Barry Faulkner
Los Angeles Times
December 4, 2010

IRVINE — Their edge was the first to go. Next, went the lead. Finally, it was first-year coach Russell Turner's temper that made the final departure in the UC Irvine Anteaters' 85-70 nonconference men's basketball loss to San Jose State on Saturday at the Bren Events Center.

The Spartans (5-2) used an overwhelming backcourt to overcome an 11-2 deficit, eventually taking control toward the end of a first half in which the Anteaters led for the first 13:28.

But when senior guard Justin Graham converted a three-point play that put the visitors up, 18-17, the Spartans never trailed again...

Go here for the remainder.

Spartans win 85-70

Host UC Irvine started the game like 'this is our crib' or however it would be stated in Orange County but then San Jose State eliminated the turnovers and gained greater shooting accuracy. That made the Anteaters a 2010 taxidermy trophy tonight by the score of 85-70. Putting a 1-11 shooting start and a bevy of early turnovers in the rear view mirror -- fortified the Spartan win.

Justin Graham led the scoring with 21 and Adrian Oliver added 18. Chris Jones totaled a season and career high 15 points, scoring in many a manner from different spots on the floor. Wil Carter put together a double-double of 12 points and the same in rebounds.

The Spartans owned the boards 43-27 and went 26-32 at the foul line but were out-shot on the game 41% to 49%.

A blazing 51-point second half did the job for SJSU. At the 11:56 mark, San Jose State led 50-39. Irvine found itself down by 15 with 10 minutes showing.

At the half, it was 34-27 in favor of the Spartans and Oliver totaled but four points at that time -- on a layup plus a pair of free throws. But it was a tale of disparate puzzle pieces with Irvine breaking out to 5-0 and 13-4 leads and then the Anteater shots began connecting far more often with iron and glass than twine while the opposite was in effect for SJSU.

A Graham and1 three-point play put San Jose State ahead 18-17 and a Spartan 18-4 run concluded with a 22-17 lead at the 5:26 mark. A Chris Jones trey made it a 21-4 run before the Anteaters finally countered.

Matt Ballard returns home twice

Most fans do not remember that current Spartan big Matt Ballard played as a UC Irvine Anteater in the 2007-2008 season. He's also from Orange County so it's a two-fer for Matt although UCI has a different coach now and, to the best of our knowledge, none of current Anteaters were members of the team when Ballard played there.

Another Khufu Najee signing article

Here's a letter-of-intent signing article from the Diablo Valley College student newspaper on newest Spartan Khufu Najee:

Najee gets full ride to SJSU
First-year guard signs letter of intent to play at San Jose
Gerardo Recinos
December 1, 2010

Basketball players are athletes with speed and strength, and Khufu Najee possesses both.

Najee, a 6 foot-3 inch tall guard, now playing for the Vikings, was this season's first DVC basketball player to sign his letter of intent to play college ball at San Jose State University next year on a full-ride athletic scholarship.

Najee, 18, a freshman, played only a handful of games at DVC before signing his letter.

As a star basketball player at Berkeley High School, Najee managed to keep a 3.45 cumulative GPA when he graduated, as well as being a first team all-league selection...

Go here for the remainder.

An Antonio Lawrence mention

Remember Antonio Lawrence from his one year at San Jose State? His name just popped up here:

Pro-Basketball in Jacksonville a ‘Giant’ Challenge
Darcy G. Richardson
The Jacksonville Observer
December 2, 2010

Ron Sholes hopes to succeed where others have failed when the Jacksonville Giants, the ABA’s newest and most promising franchise, take to the floor against the visiting San Francisco Rumble at 8 p.m. on Dec. 4.

Sholes, a local attorney and owner of City Hall Pub, a restaurant and bar located next to Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena where the Giants will play their fifteen home games and a possible playoff game later this year, is confident that his basketball franchise will be different than those in the past...

...[The Giants] signed Antonio Lawrence, a 6-foot-5 small forward who played at San Jose State...

Somehow we missed this AO feature

This escaped our attention earlier -- so to make amends:

SJSU’s Adrian Oliver looks to a bright 2011 basketball season while staying focused on family
Joseph Akeley
Spartan Daily
November 16, 2010

When Adrian Oliver was told in 2007 that his grandparents were ill, he knew he had to transfer from the University of Washington to a Bay Area school to support them.

“Up in Seattle, I was like ‘I don’t care about basketball anymore. I just want to be with my family. That’s the only thing that matters,’” the SJSU basketball star said.

Oliver said his grandparents were instrumental in raising him after his father left the family when he was 7 years old.

“My mom would have to work nights, and I would have to go to my grandparents house and they would take care of me at night,” he said. “My grandma is like my second mom, and my grandfather is my father. I don’t call him grandpa, I call him Dad. They mean everything to me...”

Go here for the remainder.

It's at UC Irvine Saturday night

(here's Darren -- Spiderman -- Moore, UCI guard who gained some fame this week across the 'net for his tattoos)

Having a lack of success with successive Roadrunner road opponents, San Jose State faces a different member of the animal kingdom -- the anteater.

Of course, this can only mean UC Irvine in Orange County, the opponent Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Bren Center.

Our best research indicates the diet of the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua is ants (duh) and termites, with no mention of a taste for Spartans. We'll take that as a plus.


A new UCI mentor has taken over -- Russell Turner -- who previously coached for the Golden State Warriors , plus Stanford and Wake Forest prior to that. He has yet to enjoy a full recruiting season but he and his staff initially reached out to the Bay Area as well as France in stocking the current roster.


UCI Record To Date

11/08/10 @ Illinois L, 79-65
11/13/10 @ USC L, 62-49

2K Sports Classic Coaches vs. Cancer
11/19/10 vs. Navy W, 75-60
11/20/ vs. Seattle University W, 85-77
11/21/10 vs. Louisiana Tech L, 76-72

11/27/10 @ Marist W, 77-56
12/01/10 @ San Diego W, 90-82

In that last game, two Irvine players performed very well on the road:

"Senior guard Darren Moore scored a career-high 30 points to lead UC Irvine over San Diego, 90-82, at Jenny Craig Pavilion Wednesday night. Moore added 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season along with four assists and four steals. He was 9 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 3 from three-point range, and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Patrick Rembert scored 18 points and added three steals as UCI (4-3) won for the fourth time in the last five games."


The Anteater Starting Five

* Patrick Rembert 6-foot-0 (13 ppg, shooting 38%, 17/16 assist-to-turnover ratio)

* Daman Starring 6-foot-3 4.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg)

* Darren (Spiderman) Moore 6-foot-3 (team-leading 17 ppg, shooting 50% overall, 45 free throw attempts already, team-leading rebounder at 6.7 a game, plus 15 steals)

* Eric Wise 6-foot-6 (9.7 ppg, shooting 46%, 6.3 rpg)

* Paval Losonsky 6-foot-9 (8.3 ppg., 5-11 on three-point attempts, 4.2 rpg)

Plus, backcourter Derrick Strings is a three-point shooter off the bench as two thirds of his shots have comes from distance.


Freshman Chris McNealy (son of the former Spartan) played 22 minutes against the Toreros and scored nine points. Let's see how much he is on the court versus SJSU.

Wise has been injured (hip flexor strain) but is now back. He'll be a load upfront and quite a difficult matchup for SJSU's frontcourt

So it's Darren Moore and Wise who will play the primary roles. Expect Calvin Douglas to be matched up often against Moore but it's anyone's guess as to who will receive the responsibility for dealing with Wise.

San Jose State beat Irvine twice last season -- 69-56 in Orange County and 78-68 at Walt McPherson Court. Wise scored a team-leading 15 points in the former and followed that with 31 against the Spartans on the road. Adrian Oliver totaled 31 and 29 points respectively in the two games.

The official UC Irvine roster (by position and alphabetical)

Derick Flowers 6-0 170 Guard SO
Emil Kim 6-5 205 Guard SR
Jonas Lalehzadeh 6-5 205 Guard JR
Darren Moore 6-3 190 Guard SR
Chris McNealy 6-3 170 Guard FR (San Ramon Valley HS)
Patrick Rembert 6-0 188 Guard SR
Brandon Scott 6-2 190 Guard SO (Archbishop Mitty HS) redshirting
Daman Starring 6-3 190 Guard SO
Derrick Strings 6-2 180 Guard JR
Mike Wilder 6-2 210 Guard SO

Adam Folker 6-9 225 Forward JR
Pavol Losonsky 6-9 235 Forward SR (Slovakia)
Kevin Mulloy 6-6 205 Forward FR
Eric Wise 6-6 240 Forward JR

Maxime Chupin 6-9 220 Center FR (France) (awaiting eligibility determination)
Peter Simek 6-9 240 Center SR (Slovakia)

Former SJSU coach Janice Richard dies

Louisiana College women's basketball coach Janice Joseph-Richard dies
Randy Benson
The Town Talk
December 1, 2010

Janice Joseph-Richard, an All-American at Louisiana College who returned the women’s basketball program at the Pineville school to national prominence as a coach, has died.

Richard, 46, died Wednesday, Dec. 1, at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria after five-year battle with breast cancer.

“The basketball world lost a great coach and a great person,” said Frank Schneider, who coached Richard for three years at LC and later started her coaching career by hiring her as an assistant at Southeastern Louisiana.

“Janice Joseph-Richard was one of the classiest individuals to ever walk the Louisiana College campus,” LC President Joe Aguillard said. “When you were with her, you felt you were in the presence of a special person. I think she was anointed...”

Go here for the remainder.

Here's another report.

A game report and a photo slideshow

Here's a report from the San Antonio newspaper on the Spartan loss to UTSA.

Also, here is a slideshow of photos from the game.