San Diego State Basketball: 3 keys for Aztecs to move to 27-0 against UNLV
By John Vaccaro
San Diego State Basketball continues to work their way toward the first undefeated season in Mountain West history. But they’ll have to take care of business against UNLV this weekend.
San Diego State Basketball’s dominant win at Boise State on Sunday removed another one of the perceived obstacles between them and a perfect season. The win improved their record 26-0 and made it harder than ever to believe they aren’t going to finish the regular season with their 0 intact. They have already passed just about every road test this conference has to offer, beating Utah State, Boise, Colorado State, New Mexico, and UNLV on their home courts this season.
Now they just need to get through Colorado State and UNLV at home to make it to the last matchup that people truly believe could threaten their perfect record, a game at Nevada to close out the season. As it stands, SDSU is locked into the #1 seed in the Mountain West tournament and should be in the same position in the NCAA tournament if they can avoid a stumble on their way through the rest of their Mountain West opponents.
UNLV showed a lot of potential early in the Mountain West season but ran into some trouble as their schedule got tougher. They went on a 1-5 run in the middle of their schedule before bouncing back with recent wins at New Mexico and at home against Colorado State. Now they have the unenviable task of trying to beat SDSU at Viejas Arena as they try to earn themselves a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
They currently find themselves in a tie for 5th place with Colorado State, but hold a tiebreaker over CSU that would give them the 5 seed if the teams remain even the rest of the season (it’s a weird tiebreaker the Mountain West uses where UNLV’s win over Utah State would give them the advantage). That pursuit of a first-round bye continues with UNLV trying to accomplish what they couldn’t in Vegas, ending San Diego State’s undefeated season.
The matchup in Vegas was very exciting and Saturday night’s game at Viejas Arena promises more of the same. Here are San Diego State’s keys to winning this game and continuing their pursuit of the Mountain West’s best season ever.