DIFFICULT STRETCH
Aztecs return to action after a bye week with seven tough games, including three of the next four on the road
On the drive from the Denver airport in the state’s eastern plains to Colorado State, the Rocky Mountains rise abruptly in the distance, with 14,259-foot Longs Peak puncturing the azure sky.
But climb Longs Peak and look west and there’s Stones Peak. And Clark Peak and Sundance Mountain and Storm Peak and Ypsilon Mountain and Fairchild Mountain and Hagues Peak, all over 12,000 feet.
Sort of like San Diego State’s upcoming basketball schedule.
The Aztecs (16-4, 5-2) return to action after a bye week to face Colorado State at rowdy Moby Arena at 5,025 feet tonight, a team that a few weeks ago was No. 13 in the Associated Press poll and will be fueled by the desperate energy from
a pair of road losses.
And then:
Home against No. 16 Utah State, alone in first place in the Mountain West at 6-1.
In altitude at Air Force, which just won by 32 at UNLV.
In altitude at Nevada, where the Aztecs lost last year.
Home against Colorado State, which spent eight of the previous nine weeks in the AP top 25.
Home against No. 18 New Mexico, which beat the Aztecs by 18 in Albuquerque earlier this month.
In altitude at No. 16 Utah State, where the Aztecs are 2-4 in their last six visits.
“We know what’s in front of us,” coach Brian Dutcher said, “and we have to be at our best to win these games.”
It’s a seven-game stretch that likely will define their regular season and any chance of repeating as Mountain West champions. Dutcher laughed.
“I think everybody is looking at their schedule and saying that,” he said. “Take Boise State. They had a tough home loss (against Utah State in overtime), now they have to go to New Mexico. There is no easy way out. Everybody is going to be tested down the stretch. If you’re playing well, you’ll have a chance to win. It won’t guarantee you will.
“Teams are going to play well in this conference and still get beat. Someone’s going to get you.
There’s no question about it. It’s where it’s going to happen, and you have to do your best to avoid a two- or three-game losing streak.”
The formula is not secret: Hold serve at home, go undefeated against the conference’s bottom four and then steal one or two on the road against the upper half. Check, check and … empty box. The Aztecs have done the first two things but whiffed on their first two road encounters against the Mountain West’s top tier, getting drilled at New Mexico and fading down the stretch at Boise State. Otherwise, their NCAA Tournament résumé is clean: 14-0 against Quad 2 or lower opponents, 2-4 against Quad 1 foes.
Tonight, on paper at least, might be their best shot. After never having more rest than their opponent through their first seven conference games, the Aztecs
finally flip the script against Colorado State. They’ve had a full week to prepare. And since SDSU’s last game, an 81-65 win against Wyoming last Tuesday, the Rams have played twice — and lost twice.
The Rams are lucky it’s not a four-game skid. Before losing at Nevada and Wyoming last week, they needed a pair of late comebacks at home to avert disaster against Air Force and UNLV.
They played with fire against Wyoming on Saturday just over the mountain in Laramie and didn’t escape. CSU led by 11 with 1:11 to go in regulation, went to overtime, lost in overtime.
“A really, really tough loss to swallow,” coach Niko Medved told The Coloradan newspaper. “In some way, we found a way to lose that game. It’s hard to not be emotional right now when things are the way that they are. … Everything conceivable that could have went wrong, went wrong.”
Said forward Patrick Cartier: “A gut punch, especially against Wyoming. It’s a quick turnaround, obviously, so we have to take tonight, probably watch the film and emotionally get over this, which is a hard thing to do.”
That dropped them to 3-4 in the Mountain West, three games out of first place. That
also makes today a borderline must-win.
“They’re going to be at their best,” Dutcher said. “I just know it from playing against them all these years. These guys have character, the kind of kids you want in your program, so they’re going to respond to it. There have been teams in the past at other programs where you’d say, ‘They can’t survive a loss like this. They’ll fragment.’ That’s not this team we’re going to play.”
Dutcher has his own issues to solve, too. His team can’t shoot.
The only reason the Aztecs aren’t last in field-goal shooting in the 11-team Mountain West at 44.83 percent is because Boise State is at 44.77 percent. SDSU is last in 3-point accuracy over the entire season at 31.3 percent and even worse in conference games at 27.5 percent. In the last three games, 25.3 percent.
Sometimes poor shooting is a function of tired legs, and in that regard a week without games (and two off days from practice) might help. So might a playbook shed of ineffective sets and bolstered with new ones.
“It’s confidence, it’s legs, it’s taking the right shot,” Dutcher said. “We’re working on all those things. Obviously, we have to shoot the ball better. The encouraging thing is, we’re 16-4 and haven’t shot the ball well. If we can continue to defend, rebound and then get a little shooting streak together where we’re making some 3s, we might be very good.”
And if they don’t, they’ll be climbing mountains without ropes.