San Diego State Basketball: 2019-20 keys for Aztecs to sweep New Mexico
By John Vaccaro
Stay hot from 3
San Diego State has been unbelievable from 3 all season long, shooting the nation’s 12th best percentage from behind the arc at 38.6%, but they have been even more ridiculous than usual over their last 3 games. Over the last 3, that number has shot up to 46.7% and they haven’t shot below 43% during that stretch.
One of those games was their 15/33 performance against New Mexico, where their 45.5% really wasn’t even a good indication of just how easily they beat the Lobos from outside. They were 10/18 in the first half and likely could have knocked down more than 20 over the course of the game if the Aztecs had actually needed to continue pouring it on in the second half.
Even with Lyle and Jackson back in the lineup, the Lobo defense is still miserable at stopping opponents from consistently knocking down 3s, especially on the road. It didn’t take SDSU long to figure out exactly what they needed to do in order to get themselves clean looks from 3 the first time these teams played, as we saw in the three 3s they knocked down before the first media timeout. Now that they’ve had a full game to see exactly what they need to do to break the Lobo defense open and how easily they can get open looks from behind the arc, that should be the focal point of their offensive game plan.
With a hometown crowd behind them and putting up their best shooting numbers of the season, San Diego State could put the Lobos out of the game early again if they just let it rain from behind the arc.