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

Keep Their Composure

Without a doubt, when New Mexico’s basketball team is good, The Pit is one of the toughest places in the country to play. Between the elevation and how ridiculously loud those 15000 person crowds get, it is one of the best home-court advantages in all of college basketball. That is what San Diego State needs to be ready for on Wednesday night.

San Diego State has struggled at The Pit in the past. They’ve lost three in a row there against inferior New Mexico teams and this year’s UNM squad should be their toughest challenge in a few years if Vance Jackson and Jaquan Lyle are healthy (and allowed to play in Lyle’s case). To keep this from being their 4th consecutive loss in Albuquerque, they need to avoid letting the rowdy crowd force them out of their comfort zone.

SDSU plays at one of the country’s slowest paces and does everything deliberately. They take good care of the ball and are adept at scoring late in the shot clock. They need to continue to play this way to keep New Mexico from speeding the game up.

The Lobos play at the country’s 38th fastest pace this season and have actually sped their play up even more since Carlton Bragg was dismissed (aside from the Nevada game where that would have been a poor plan). I have no doubt that they’re going to try to turn this into a track meet and wear San Diego State down.

I believe that one of the biggest reasons SDSU has struggled at The Pit in the past is fatigue. It’s tough going from playing at sea level to a city with an elevation of almost a mile. New Mexico is going to try to exploit that.

SDSU can negate these issues by continuing to play at their slow pace and making their players do as little work as possible. Slowing the game down should also keep the crowd out of the game to some extent as they’ll struggle to get into a low-scoring, slow game like they would if this turns into a shootout.

We’ve seen SDSU win in tough road environments already in conference play this season, but this could be the toughest one yet. They’ll need to keep their composure to leave Albuquerque 22-0.