San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Simply put, SDSU had no business losing that game
How in the world of James Naismith do you lose that game? How, up 26 at home with a massive advantage in roster-wide experience, do you let nearly four touchdowns’ worth of basketball front-running evaporate?
The Aztecs raced in front of Colorado State 38-12 Saturday at
Viejas Arena … then did not score another basket for 7:24 that spanned two halves. San Diego State blitzed the Rams with runs of 11-0 and 14-0 … then hemorrhaged a 19-0 run. The home team led for 38 minutes and 39 seconds … but not the final 12.3.
A seven-point cushion with 56 seconds to play … melted amid an 11-0 finishing run.
The come-from-far-far-ahead, 70-67 loss to Colorado State — a senior-less bunch that ranks 305th among Division I teams in terms of on-court chops — was in
painfully measurable ways, a truly historic unraveling.
Make sense of it? Good luck.
“Anything that could go wrong down the stretch went wrong,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said.
This was a basketball version of an even more star-crossed Titanic, plowing into one iceberg after another. ESPN Stats & Info explained.
The Rams mounted — or the Aztecs surrendered, depending on your perspective — the biggest comeback in Division I this season. It was one of just five comebacks of 26 or more points in Division I matchups the last decade. It was, wait for it, the largest comeback in Mountain West history.
There's not enough sugar in San Diego County to coat that one.
“You've got to be better,” senior Matt Mitchell said.
The bigger and more concerning picture, among the wreckage of burn-thefilm loss, was the trend of inconsistency at home from a locker room with five seniors that ranks 10th in Division I experience. Up 26 against Colorado State.
Down 17 to BYU. Down 16 to Pepperdine.
The record in those three: 1-2.
When CBS finally finished off Florida-lsu, the country missed some of the best basketball this program has played in, well, who knows how long. America arrived at 28-5 then, as viewers poured more pretzels into the bowl and settled on the couch, the Rams revved up for that 19-0 spurt.
Dr. Jekyll, meet Mr. Hyde.
This was not exactly the national closeup the Aztecs craved in the first home appearance on a major network since 2011.
“It was like a blitzkrieg (early in the first half),” Rams coach Niko Medved said. “We were like ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?' ”
For one, wait for the Aztecs to flash their headscratching, yo-yo'ing personality.
There's too much talent at too many positions to be this unpredictable, especially in games where you get to sleep in your own bed. This is the team that smoked Saint Mary's by 25 points on a neutral court and swept aside ranked Arizona State by double digits in Tucson.
Colorado State, despite coming into Saturday 5-1, lost to the same Saint Mary's team by 22.
“They made the plays and we did not, down the stretch,” Dutcher said.
The very clear problem: There should not be “down the stretch” drama when a team is gasping for air, down 26.
Yet, there the Aztecs inexplicably found themselves in the final minutes as they surrendered a basket on an offensive rebound, Trey Pulliam missed the front end of a 1-and-1, the defense allowed a fast-break layup, Terrell Gomez (otherwise terrific, with a gamehigh 19 points) misfired at the rim and senior Jordan Schakel fouled unlikely hero John Tonje on a 3-pointer up 3.
Tonje, who averaged just six points per game, made it of course.
A free throw later and, to the Rams' thrilled bewilderment, the lead changed for the first time since the game was less than two minutes old.
“We just lost focus,” Mitchell said. “I think that was one of our worst defensive games of the year.”
Why? That's the question Dutcher is tasked to answer.
There was no one thing to pinpoint. This was a loss of 1,000 cuts. In the end, there was much to untangle, given the historic circumstances. An early-january loss does not destroy a season, all know, but there's no doubt the totality of it will scar a bit.
Something proved clear, however. Fail to be consistent at home and take care of your home court at your own, significant risk.
“It doesn't feel good,” Schakel said.
Pandemic scheduling means the Aztecs will face the very same team in the very same arena just 51 hours after the pair conspired to make some history.
What should anyone expect? That question begs a fascinating answer.
“We'll know our opponent well, having just played them,” Dutcher said. “So, we'll see.”
Start here: consistency or bust.