San Diego State Basketball: 2019-20 season review of the Aztecs

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - JANUARY 29: KJ Feagin #10 of the San Diego State Aztecs shoots against the New Mexico Lobos during their game at Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit on January 29, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Aztecs defeated the Lobos 85-57. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 07: Sam Merrill #5 of the Utah State Aggies is names MVP after defeating the San Diego State Aztecs (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images) /

The lows of the season

The Streak Ends Against UNLV

There were a lot of shocking results in college basketball this year. There was that time Kentucky lost to a team that ended up not winning a game in the Missouri Valley. There was that Duke loss at home against Stephen F. Austin. There was that weird phenomenon where every team in the Big 10 immediately got worse when they had to sleep in a hotel room. Even with all of that, I was still shocked to see San Diego State lose to UNLV.

It was an uncharacteristic performance from the Aztecs as they struggled mightily shooting the ball and just weren’t able to do enough in the second half to overcome the 12 point halftime deficit. The only Aztec who was really able to get his footing in the game was Malachi Flynn, with a solid 24 point outing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and the Aztecs fell just short of the conference’s first undefeated season.

Bad nights happen to every team, but this loss was particularly disappointing because of the timing and manner in which it came. UNLV was simply the superior team that night at Viejas Arena and stopped SDSU just short of history.

Loss In Mountain West Championship Game

The only thing that was missing from San Diego State’s list of accomplishments this season was the Mountain West tournament title. It’s been oddly difficult for regular-season champions to go the distance in this conference’s tournament since its inception. In fact, SDSU became the 17th team to start the tournament as the top seed and fall short of the trophy.

In most cases, a loss to a team that belonged in the NCAA tournament in the final of a conference tournament wouldn’t be seen as a low moment, but when you only lose 2 games in a season they’re both going to be low moments. The thing that really makes this a low for them is that it fueled the idea some people had that this team was regressing late in the year. They had already beaten Utah State twice earlier in the year and had done so pretty convincingly.

The other factor that made this a low point for them is that they looked to be in control against the Aggies with their 8 point halftime lead, especially given how strong they’ve been in second halves this season.

I believe this game was more indicative of how well Utah State was playing late in the season than any kind of regression for the Aztecs, but it still has to be seen as a disappointment that SDSU couldn’t add to their conference-leading 5 tournament titles.