Busting Brackets
Fansided

San Diego State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to ending losing streak at The Pit

By John Vaccaro

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 11: KJ Feagan #10 of the San Diego State Aztecs shoots the ball in the first half against the Boise State Broncos at Viejas Arena on January 11, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 11: KJ Feagan #10 of the San Diego State Aztecs shoots the ball in the first half against the Boise State Broncos at Viejas Arena on January 11, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 21: Trey Pulliam #4 of the San Diego State Aztecs (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 21: Trey Pulliam #4 of the San Diego State Aztecs (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Let it Fly From Downtown

There are plenty of holes that I could point to for SDSU to exploit against Lobo defense. It is one of the 60 worst in the country in terms of points per game and it only boasts a couple of facets that even rank in the top 200 in the country. It usually isn’t easy to narrow down just where a team needs to make such a poor defense pay, but it’s obvious for San Diego State in this game. They need to light the Lobos up from outside the arc.

I was honestly shocked when I saw that New Mexico only ranked 228th in 3 pt percentage and that they were “only” allowing opponents to make 34.4% of their attempts. Those numbers really aren’t representative of how abysmal their defense is against the three-pointer.

They welcome it from opponents. Their token pressure gets them off-balance and they become more than willing to allow open 3s instead of letting opponents get to the rim. They also over help on players attacking the basket and leave a ton of openings when opposing teams get a few ball reversals. The strategy has worked at home, but it has been a huge problem on the road against teams like Colorado State, San Jose State, and Nevada. In fact, Nevada just made 15 3s against the Lobos the other day, which accounted for nearly half of their points in the game.

We know that the Aztecs can light it up from 3. They’re shooting 36.9% from outside even after their game at UNLV dragged that number down a bit. The key here is that they are going to need to be willing to let it fly from outside every time UNM gives them the opening. Even if they miss a few in a row, they need to keep taking whatever open looks the Lobos give them.

If San Diego State is willing to take every open 3 that New Mexico gives them then they are likely to make them at a high percentage, take the crowd out of the game, and put this game out of reach early.