By Mohamed Bafakih (@Moe_Fresco):
A North Bay-South Bay exhibition will tip-off the San Jose State men’s basketball season as it welcomes Dominican University of California to the Event Center on Sunday.
Dominican, located an hour north of San Jose in San Rafael, competes in the NCAA Division II level. Though fires have affected that area, the game won’t have proceeds going toward the fire relief according to SJSU Athletics.
Both teams are opening up the season with inexperience being the biggest concern but in different ways.
The Jean Prioleau era of Spartans basketball is shortly underway with a system and coaching staff assembled just over a month ago.
As for the Penguins, they feature just three seniors and seven freshmen.
Two of the seniors, guards Jeremiah Gray and Reverend Maduakor, accounted for a third of the team’s scoring last season in which it finished with a 10-16 overall record and 9-11 record in the PacWest Conference.
Gray averaged 16.1 points per contest while Maduakor added 9.2 points to the team’s 66 points per game average.
The third senior, Jordan Tribble, is the tallest player for Dominican at 6-foot-9. He, along with freshman and San Jose native Christian Futch at 6-foot-8 are the only players over 6-foot-6.
SJSU’s length will pose a threat on the glass as it features six guys over 6-foot-6, headlined by Ryan Welage. Welage was the second-leading scorer and rebounder on the team with 13.2 points per game and 4.5 rebounds last year.
Additionally, Keith Fisher III will be making his anticipated debut for the Spartans after missing the entire 2016-17 season due to an ACL tear.
Sunday’s game against Dominican will tip-off at 2 p.m. and is the first of four straight home games for SJSU to open up the season.