Advertisement

Updated February 17th, 2020 at 06:07 IST

No. 4 SD State beats Boise State 72-55, remains undefeated

No. 4 San Diego State keeps winning, forcing coach Brian Dutcher to dig deep for creative ways to keep his team focused.

No. 4 SD State beats Boise State 72-55, remains undefeated
| Image:self
Advertisement

No. 4 San Diego State keeps winning, forcing coach Brian Dutcher to dig deep for creative ways to keep his team focused.

After the Aztecs beat Boise State 72-55 Sunday, he revealed some of his slogans that keep the team on task.

“Early in the year, we had five games in eleven days, so we were like, ‘Let’s win five in eleven,’” Dutcher said. “And then we had five games the entire month of December, so we said, ‘Let’s win five in December.’ And we did it. I told our team they don’t hang a banner for twenty wins, so we hung a banner with four to go.”

His mantra changed after San Diego State (26-0, 15-0 Mountain West) wrapped up the conference regular-season title, though his message hasn’t.

“I told our team, ‘Let’s get greedy. Let’s play for perfection,’” Dutcher said. “If we’re this close, we might as well play for a perfect regular season. Why not win three straight as a mini-goal to chase something other than seeding in the tournament? Let’s do something special.”

The Aztecs, which own the nation’s longest active winning streak, looked special in handling a Bronco squad that hadn’t lost a home conference game since Feb. 27, 2019.

Malachi Flynn scored 22 points and dished out six assists to lead San Diego State in scoring, joined by all four of the team’s starters in double digits. Yanni Wetzell added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Boise State (17-10, 9-6) struggled to find any rhythm on offence and finished the game shooting 41.2% from the field.

“They wanted it,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said of his team. “It’s not like they didn’t show up either. They wanted it too much in some ways and let it get away.”

After wrapping up the Mountain West regular-season title on Tuesday with a victory over New Mexico State, San Diego State didn’t show any signs of a letdown.

The Aztecs went on an 8-2 run to close out the first half and take a 40-26 lead into the locker room.

Justinian Jessup led the Broncos with 22 points, while Derrick Alston added 12.

All five of San Diego State’s starters finished with double figures in scoring.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Since moving up to No. 4 in the poll on Jan. 20, the Aztecs haven’t been able to climb up any further. And that won’t change after the three teams ahead of them — Baylor, Gonzaga, and Kansas — kept winning this week. However, Kansas and Baylor clash on Saturday, which could give San Diego State a chance to push even higher next week if it continues its winning ways.

BIG PICTURE

With San Diego State’s tournament all but booked, the Aztecs continue to build their case for a top seed. And Sunday’s victory kept that possibility alive. Their weak schedule — one that only has two wins over teams currently ranked — means an undefeated regular season is the only path for a No. 1 seed, but a very realistic one.

Boise State’s long-shot hopes of earning an at-large bid hinged on pulling the upset at home. Now the Broncos’ tournament fate rests on making a run in the Mountain West tournament next month.

 

Advertisement

Published February 17th, 2020 at 06:07 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Ashoka University Students Raise Casteist Slogans
a few seconds ago
Kerala Lottery Karunya Plus KN-515 Result Today
a few seconds ago
OpenAI
8 minutes ago
Naveen Polishetty
9 minutes ago
LCA Tejas IAF
10 minutes ago
Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya
13 minutes ago
Good Friday
26 minutes ago
Bigbasket said it has altered its slotted delivery service to deliver within two hours against the earlier option of same day or next day delivery.
27 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo