Well that wasn’t fun last night. Monday opening night of the Players Era for the Aztecs revealed a whole lot for SDSU basketball. We all knew Michigan was a juggernaut and fully deserving of their #7 ranking in the nation. But the Aztecs lost by forty points. 40.
No team should beat SDSU by that much.
94-54 was all Ann Arbor wrote when the Michelob Ultra Arena buzzer sounded and the celebratory smoke went up in the air. With it seemed to go many of the hopes Aztecs have of a successful out of conference season.
At this point of the early season it is looking very daunting if the program, which has prided itself on gaining meaningful pre Mountain West Conference victories, can actually pad their resume for a March Madness seeding.
But let’s tuck that sad talk way for now. Let’s live in the moment shall we.
Sorry the current moment talk won’t get much better. The Aztecs on the night came out firing, jumping ahead 5-0 over Michigan. Until two quick, ticky tack fouls were called—one on Miles Byrd and the other on Magoon Gwath. Immediately that put the Aztecs back on their heels defensively.
And then the downpour began. Michigan dominated the rest of the way pretty much led by Yaxel Lendenborg’s 15 pts, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Morez Johnson Jr added 13 pts and 6 rebounds and of course big Aday Mara patrolled the paint blocking everything in sight.
The Aztecs were out muscled and it showed. 49-34 on the boards, 38-12 points in the paint, and the Wolverines shot 50% from the field. It was a game where the score truly did reflect how bad of a performance this was.
Surprisingly no post game interview that we’ve been able to source to get coach Brian Dutcher’s initial thoughts of the team’s shortcoming in this first game of the NIL Tournament. But we’d imagine there would have to be some accountability taken all around.
Elzie Harrington the lone bright spot in this disaster was the team’s leading scorer on the night finishing with 15 points on 6-9 shooting. The true freshman played a game that was full of execution, picking his spots to get clean looks, and nailing the shots he knew he could make.
After an early turnover you could visibly see Harrington collect himself and then truly focus in on playing his game the way he knew how. On an otherwise chaotic offensive night where the Aztecs turned the ball over 17 times, a true freshman was the catalyst for much of the offense. Yet it was only good enough to earn 22 minutes.
BJ Davis the next scorer next in line notched 11 points on 3-8 shooting and 2 three pointers and 3 free throws. He came off the bench and only logged 17 minutes.
Look, I can sit here and regurgitate the stat line for you all day, but if this team truly has a too much talent problem as how it’s been professed all off season up to this point, it certainly has a how to play all this talent problem.
If the Aztecs are truly out to play the hot hand in each game rather than focusing in on a specific rotation, then the hot hands need to be on the court long enough to help other catch fire.
Bottom line, this team is not gaining any ground in developing their offensive production. When the leading assists man in a game is your junior center Miles Heide, it’s noticeable you have a bit of an offensive flow issue.
And two, their trademark defensive output that this program’s identity has built for themselves is just not there. This for a team returning largely their main building blocks is a scary thought moving forward.
San Diego State next plays against Oregon in this Players Era Festival at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. The game can be watched on TNT and heard on San Diego Sports 760 radio.
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One Response
Team was overmatched and for first time that I have seen, quit, in the 2nd half. Only hustle was from Simmons and Harrington. How many more times do we need to see a lazy pass in the backcourt get stolen. Dutch needs to shorten the rotation and go with Harrington at PG. This team does not have a leader and will be a middle of the MWC team.