San Diego — In a matchup of the last two undefeated teams in Mountain West play the Aztecs came out firing on all cylinders showing why Viejas Arena is one of the toughest places to play in the country. Everything was clicking for SDSU on both ends of the court going on an early 10-0 run and going 4/9 from three in the first 10 minutes of the game. A strong lob play to start the game and stellar first half would play a significant role in the outcome of the game.
A big emphasis for San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher’s team was to contain Oregon State transfer, Jarod Lucas. He was limited to just 11 points in the game and Darrion Trammell played a big part in that as he was matched up with him for most of the night. The entire defense was swarming the Wolfpack offense all night causing them to go 23/58 (39.7%) from the field and 5/25 (20%) from three.
Matt Bradley continued his impressive Mountain West play, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Lamont Butler carried over from his performance vs Wyoming finishing with a strong 15 points on 5/9 shooting. The Aztecs are very hard to beat when he plays this well. The play of Jaedon LeDee and Keshad Johnson was also very impressive. When starting center Nathan Mensah comes out it is LeDee that carries the load down low effectively. Keshad Johnson is another player that makes the Aztecs hard to beat when he scores the ball.
San Diego State would not get out of this game without a fight from the Wolfpack. With more passive play in the second half, Nevada put together a 12-0 run to help close the lead to single digits. In the final minutes, Nevada Coach Steve Alford implemented a full-court press which the Aztecs had no answer for. If the Aztecs want to avoid late-game collapses as we’ve seen in the past they have to limit the turnovers in the last 5 minutes.
Minus a few hiccups at the end, SDSU showed us the team that they could be come tournament time. They now have sole possession of first place in the Mountain West standings. They have another tough test on Saturday vs New Mexico (15-2) at home.
