Entering the gates of hell

The Spartans head down to play San Diego on Tuesday evening and these Aztecs, formerly rated #6 in the nation, are coming off a 58-44 ESPN televised beatdown at the hands and home of New Mexico. The Lobos punctured the vaunted San Diego State defense for a 50% conversion rate in shooting and held The Border Guys to 32%.

Concurrently, MWC Player of the Year candidate Xavier Thames has experienced a shooting slump of late and the guard finished 3-15 in The Pit. He must correct that for the Aztecs to roll.

So you think Steve Fisher's squad, 22-3 overall, 12-2 in Mountain West Conference play, might be looking to blow off some built up frustration?

+++++

Here's Juan Reyes/The Spartan Daily on the 75-50 January matchup between these two teams.

Below is our game report post:

You knew it was coming but the arrival time wasn't posted. That being a San Diego State points run. Eventually it arrived -- in the second half -- and that was that as the Aztecs topped San Jose State University 75-50 tonight. Coach Dave Wojcik's squad pulled within five twice but became stuck on 30 points for an interminably long time -- 17:34 to 12:37 -- and that's when the game slipped away.
The score was a tepid 29-19 at the half but that picked up in the second 20 minutes. However, the shooting numbers for both teams were abysmal: 39%, 15% and 64% for the victors, 33%, 26% and 53% for the Spartans. 39-17 was the differential in free throw attempts.
Xavier Thames (the guard out of Sacramento) led the Aztecs with 15 points while Devante Wilson paced the Washington Square crew with 14.
Two other San Diego Staters are from the Sacramento area and that helped bolster attendance to the best anyone could recall at 4,117.
For the second straight game, freshman Rashad Muhammad was negated. It was 1-7 tonight with five points in 21 minutes preceded by 0-7, two points in 26 minutes versus Wyoming.
It was that kind of night: Aztec center Skylar Spencer entered the matchup shooting 8-18 on the season (17 games) concerning free throws. He earned six visits to the charity stripe tonight and sank four of them. Spencer also went 4-4 from the field.
SJSU attempted but 19 threes on the evening.

From our preview of that contest:

The backcourt leader is 6-foot-3 senior Xavier Thames, a senior out of Sacramento and a transfer from Washington State after his sophomore season. He is averaging 17.0 points per game while connecting on 43% of his overall shot attempts and 47% from long distance. 6-foot-8 sophomore Winston Sheppard is at 13.1 points an outing with half his rebounds coming offensively. He has the making of the next star of this group. 6-foot-7 JJ O'Brien scores 9.4 points per contest with 48% overall accuracy. 6-foot-8 Tulane transfer Josh Davis owns the boards at 11.5 each time out and in the middle is 6-foot-10 Skylar Spencer who has swatted away 44 shots.

Their respective roles have been maintained. 

+++++

Chris Cunningham will have his hands full offensively with Spencer's defensive prowess and intimidation. Also don't look for Rashad Muhammad to experience many open looks at the basket. SJSU won't back down (Tom Petty's song inserted here) but will be facing an angry opponent looking to re-prove their deserved lofty ranking of yore. The Spartans don't have the firepower at this point to take down the Aztecs but let's see what kind of game they give them.