San Diego State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to bounce back vs Colorado State
By John Vaccaro
Keep Colorado State off the Free Throw Line
There are a lot of things the Colorado State offense does well. When you look at their numbers, it’s honestly difficult to understand why they haven’t won more games this season. They shoot high percentages both inside and outside the lane. They take decent care of the ball. They get to the free throw line a ton. Normally, that last one wouldn’t be something I would be concerned with, but this game comes with a special set of circumstances.
After losing at home to UNLV, there are going to be a lot of doubters who are suddenly (and unreasonably) questioning just how good SDSU is. It happens all the time when teams lose games like this. I remember when people were talking about Kentucky not being all that good after they lost at home to Evansville. Kentucky has hovered around the top 10 in the country all season. It is very rare that these reactions to one loss are ever actually accurate.
The reason that these doubters concern me is that sometimes when teams start to hear people talk about them being overrated, they try to go out and prove that they’re as good as they were thought to be before the loss. That usually leads to them trying to make spectacular plays and blow their opponent out to make people forget about the loss.
If SDSU starts reaching for steals and jumping to make emphatic blocks, then they are going to start piling up fouls quickly and CSU is a team that takes advantage of that. They are currently averaging 22.1 free throw attempts per game.
SDSU needs to play their sound defensive game like they usually do and not try to do too much just to make a point to some talking heads. If they go away from what has made them great, then they’ll be making it much more difficult to get this win at home.