Sluggish San Diego State falls to UNLV at Viejas Arena, hurting Aztecs' postseason resume

Mark Zeigler, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jan 18, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — The halftime entertainment at Viejas Arena on Saturday night for San Diego State’s basketball game against UNLV was two roller skaters on a tiny octagonal platform that could barely fit them.

They didn’t fall off, despite spinning and performing acrobatics at dizzying speeds.

Metaphorically, the Aztecs did.

Splat.

The secret to their NCAA Tournament resumes in recent years has been a few high-profile victories and, equally important, absolutely no bad losses.

Now they have one, 76-68 at home against a UNLV team that had dropped its last two road games by 22 points each and didn’t crumble when the Aztecs mounted a furious rally down the stretch.

The NCAA’s NET metric divides games into four quadrants based on their location and your opponent’s standing. Quad 1 and 2 wins are good, Quad 3 and 4 losses are bad. And this currently qualifies as Quad 3, snapping SDSU’s 67-game win streak in Quad 3 or below games.

The last such loss? In 2020 at Viejas Arena … against UNLV.

That one stung because the Aztecs were the nation’s last remaining undefeated team at 26-0, but it didn’t damage their NCAA Tournament prospects (and the tournament ultimately was canceled because of the pandemic). This one might not have knocked them out of tournament contention, but it likely will move them closer to the dreaded bubble.

The Aztecs (11-5, 4-3) took the floor without their usual verve, dazed looks across their faces, lethargic body language, sluggish, flat, uncarbonated, uninspired. They trailed by eight at the half, then by 13, then mounted an energized comeback that cut it to three and had Viejas Arena rocking, and had two possessions to tie it … and then the gas gauge hit E.

It wasn’t the worst first half of the season only because of the 20-point disaster a week earlier against New Mexico at The Pit. The Aztecs managed three more points Saturday but the numbers weren’t much prettier: 7 of 26 shooting overall (26.9%), a miserable 3 of 16 behind the arc, three assists, seven turnovers, minus-four on the boards.

Miles Byrd went from 25 points four days earlier against Colorado State and NBA prospect Nique Clifford to zero points on 0-of-7 shooting in the first half. And the problem with SDSU’s increasingly anemic offense of late is that if Byrd doesn’t score, no one else can.

In the 15-point win against Colorado State, 10 of SDSU’s first 11 baskets were in the paint. On Saturday, their first five shots were all 3s – all misses, one deeper than the next. At the second media timeout midway through the half, they were 1 of 1 inside the arc and 1 of 9 behind it.

Their solution? Shoot even more 3s.

The Rebels, meanwhile, worked the shot clock and found driving angles. A 9-0 run gave them a 25-17 lead. At halftime, it was 31-23.

It didn’t immediately get better in the second half, starting with a turnover and soon trailing by 13.

Things like this were happening: The Rebels missed, Miles Heide had the rebound slip through his fingers, only for UNLV’s Pape N’Diaye to grab it, dunk and get fouled.

On UNLV’s next possession, Jalen Hill had the ball in the left corner. The Aztecs spent much of Friday’s practice working on conservative closeouts against Hill, a sub-30% shooter on 3s. Instead, Magoon Gwath went for his pump fake and flew past him. Hill drove into the lane, his preferred action, made a short shot and was fouled.

The next three Aztecs possessions: miss inside, turnover, missed layup.

A hail of 3s from Byrd and Nick Boyd got them back in it, closing to four with 1:51 left. But the Rebels (11-6, 5-2) calmly ran a lob play for San Diegan Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry from preseason all-conference point guard Dedan Thomas Jr.

When the Aztecs needed it the most, their vaunted defense couldn’t get stops. UNLV scored on five straight possessions inside 3:30 to go. The dagger was a turnaround, fallaway jumper from the left side by Thomas (19 points) that pushed the lead back to six with 52 seconds left.

Byrd finished with 21 points and four 3s, all in the second half. Boyd added 16, two more than he scored in the previous two games combined. BJ Davis had 10 points. Freshman Taj DeGourville had nine. Jared Coleman-Jones had eight points and seven rebounds.

Now the Aztecs head on the road again, for a pair of games in altitude against Air Force on Wednesday and Nevada on Saturday.

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