Even under the best circumstances for San Diego State, winning at University Arena in New Mexico has been a tall order.
Giving up an early 12-point run to fall behind by double digits within the first six minutes, as the Aztecs (10-4, 3-2 Mountain West Conference) did in a 62-48 loss at ‘The Pit’ on Saturday morning, was about as poor as the start could get.
“We lost in ways that we can’t lose, the way we beat the last two teams is how they beat us,” said head coach Brian Dutcher on the radio postgame show. “They were good on the glass and we were not aggressive enough on the offensive glass… we turned it over 14 times, and so that’s a bad recipe on the road.”
Despite holding the Lobos (14-3, 6-0) 23 points below their conference-best scoring average and to just 35.8% shooting from the field, SDSU made only 35.4% (17 of 48) of their shots. New Mexico cleaned up on the offensive glass, turning an 18-3 edge in offensive boards into a 14-1 advantage in second chance points while also notching a 9-1 edge in points off turnovers.
Donovan Dent scored a game-high 16 points and five assists for the Lobos and Tru Washington had 13 points, while inside Mustapha Amzil had a 10 points and 11 rebounds double-double and Filip Borovincanin added 9 points and nine rebounds. Miles Byrd led the Aztecs with 14 points while making 3 of 7 from 3-point land, Jared Coleman-Jones had 10 points and Nick Boyd dished five assists.
SDSU took a pair of early leads, but after Coleman-Jones made a jumper 79 seconds in, the Aztecs went on a 5:31 scoreless stretch where the Lobos went on a 12-0 run aided by four of the nine Scarlet and Black turnovers in the first half.
“Coming in a place like this and playing in an environment that’s super hostile it’s all about adapting,” Coleman-Jones said on the radio postgame show. “We played really good defense in terms of our switch five and they found a way to get past that with the mixed match inside, so I guess that just the next step you to take is just growing with our experience base.”
Washington made back-to-back 3’s then Dent scored on the fast break to push the UNM lead to 14-4 just over six minutes in, and the Lobos did not allow SDSU closer than a 7 point deficit for the rest of the half.
“We’ve got to rebound the ball, we’ve got to get first on the floor for a loose ball,” Dutcher said. “We’ve got to do those types of things and get two or three stops in a row — I don’t think we got three stops in a row all game.”
SDSU had just two instances in the first half where they scored, got a stop and then scored the next points. Outside of the opening minutes of the second half, they were unable to do so again until the final three minutes when the only thing hanging in the balance was the margin of defeat.
Byrd opened the second half with a diving and-one, then Coleman-Jones drove and scored to trim the deficit to 30-25, but SDSU would not get any closer as Dent responded with a fastbreak and-one and then Borovincanin splashed a 3-ball.
The Aztecs went on another protracted scoreless spell, coming up empty for 6:22 and missing eight straight shots as New Mexico dashed off another 8 points unanswered to put the game firmly in control the rest of the way.
There was a moment of concern in the second half when Byrd appeared to tweak his right ankle after drifting back into the sideline following a 3-point attempt and going down awkwardly. He was able to return and finish the game.
After missing the Air Force game due to flu-like symptoms, both Miles Heide and Demarshay Johnson Jr. were with the team and available, as Heide played a limited seven minutes.
SDSU returns to The Mesa and will host Colorado State at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The Rams (9-6, 3-1) entered the day tied with the Aztecs for fourth in the conference and host UNLV at 1 p.m. in Fort Collins.
“These guys know what it is, they know they didn’t play the type of game they needed to play in this environment,” Dutcher said. “Now we learn from it, we put it behind us, we move on and we get ready for Colorado State at home...
“This is the Mountain West. This is toughen up, learn from your mistakes and go out there and play the best you can next game.”