LAS VEGAS — The soundbites from San Diego State players hit all the right notes about intensity and intention, but, really, they didn’t need to say anything.
You could see it, hear it, feel it, on the floor during practice all week. The sneaker squeaks. The talking. The energy. The speed. The purpose.
The urgency.
“It’s that time of year,” junior guard BJ Davis said.
The Aztecs spent 30 games trying to fulfill the promise and expectations that came with being one of the best teams (on paper) in school history. Didn’t do it. Couldn’t do it.
Now they have three games to salvage it. Win Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Mountain West tournament at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and claim the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth, and the marine layer will magically lift that has hung over this team since the double-overtime loss against Troy on Nov. 18 followed six days later by the 40-point woodshed trip against Michigan.
“The greatest opponent in March is always yourself,” said coach Brian Dutcher, whose team has lost four of its last six games. “You have to play to your potential. We have a high enough ceiling that if we play to it, we’ll have a chance.”
That starts Thursday in the 6 p.m. quarterfinal against Colorado State, which beat Fresno State 67-63 in Wednesday night’s first round and beat the Aztecs 83-74 just 2½ weeks ago in Fort Collins. Win that, and they play in the 9 p.m. semi Friday. Win that, and they drag their bleary-eyed bodies into the final a mere 15½ hours later.
“It’s not going to be easy,” junior guard Miles Byrd said. “It’s a league that has eight or nine teams that have a chance to win the conference tournament, a lot of talent from top to bottom. … It’s going to be a challenge, but that’s what you play the game for.
“You love challenges, you love being pushed, and that’s what we’re going to be this week in Las Vegas.”
The No. 2-seeded Aztecs (20-10, 14-6) have several things in their favor.
They’re playing at Thomas & Mack, where they have 48 wins since 2008-09 — the most by any Division I program in an arena where it doesn’t play home games. They’re 5-1 as a No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Tournament, winning the title in 2011 and losing in the final by two points in 2015, and have reached the championship game in 14 of the last 17 years.
They’re also playing Colorado State at 2,000 feet of elevation, not the 5,023 of Moby Arena.
Asked what he learned from the Feb. 21 loss in Fort Collins, Davis said: “I learned that the altitude really does matter.”
The Aztecs pressed the Rams into submission in the first meeting at Viejas Arena, forcing 17 turnovers and winning 73-50. They tried again at 5,023 feet — something Dutcher historically has shied away from at altitude — and there was a 32-point swing in the result.
But with 10 of his 11-man rotation available, and the Rams having played a day earlier, Dutcher will have the option of extending his defense to disrupt a Rams team that ranks 48th in the nation in offensive efficiency and speed up a team that is 361st (out of 365 Division I programs) in tempo.
The disadvantages?
After ranking first in the nation in defensive efficiency from Jan. 1 through late February, the Aztecs suddenly have reverted to their November form, when they surrendered 108, 94, 80 and 91 points in consecutive games. Over their last five, opponents are averaging 81.6 points and shooting a blistering 42.9% behind the arc.
“If I knew the exact answer to fix it, it would be fixed,” Dutcher said. “But I know one thing: We have to rebound better. We get a lot of initial stops, then the teams that do a good job on the offensive glass and second-chance opportunities have cost us.
“We rebounded pretty even with Vegas and got the (89-86) win. Had they had a 10-rebound advantage, we probably wouldn’t have escaped with a victory. We have to rebound at a higher level if we plan on winning in the Mountain West Tournament.”
Defense and rebounding. They’re the pillars of a proud program, and also largely a function of heart and effort.
Those ingredients, the players freely admit, have sometimes been absent.
“We know what we’ve got to do,” Byrd said. “We know if we come in lackadaisical, we’re going to end our season shortly and live in regret. … I don’t think it’s intentional to take games off, but there have been games where we haven’t had the right focus coming in and it’s led to a loss that probably shouldn’t have been a loss.”
The intensity at practice the last few days would suggest they’re acknowledging and addressing it.
“With this talented a team, you could hear the noise about how the team is no good and how we’re underachieving and stuff like that,” Byrd said. “A lot of teams, especially in this day and age with NIL, they might have already fallen apart.
“That’s what we can hang our hat on, that we still love each other and we’re still in here working every day, pushing for the goal that we started out with in July. I’m proud that we haven’t given in. People might not believe it, but I think we have a lot of dogs on this team.”
Mountain West Tournament: San Diego State vs. Colorado State
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 760-AM