It’s only appropriate that the stakes will be high when the San Diego State Aztecs and New Mexico Lobos meet for one final time as Mountain West rivals.
The No. 2 seeded Aztecs (21-10) will face No. 3 Lobos (23-9) in the semifinals of the MW tournament on Friday night. The winner will advance to the championship game and the loser likely will have its NCAA Tournament bubble burst for good.
Tipoff is at 9 p.m. PT at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and the game will air on CBS Sports Network.
The rivalry
The Aztecs and Lobos have had a lively, 50-year rivalry, with New Mexico 53-47 overall. But it’ll end Friday night because the Aztecs are among the five MW teams moving into the new-look Pac-12 next season, while the Lobos are among the teams staying behind.
These are the most successful teams in MW history. The Aztecs have won 16 championships overall, including seven tournament and nine regular-season titles, while the Lobos are next with 10, having won five regular-season and five tournament crowns.
They’ve met four times for the MW tourney title, with New Mexico winning three times, most recently in 2024.
The teams split the season series, each winning at home. The Aztecs’ 81-73 loss at The Pit on Feb. 28 came during a late-season swoon that saw them lose four of their final six games. That slump severely damaged their chances at an at-large NCAA Tournament berth, meaning they need to win the MW tourney to assure a sixth straight appearance in March Madness.
The keys
SDSU advanced by beating No. 7 Colorado State 71-62 with its trademark dominating defense and some lopsided stats. They made only 1 of 11 3-pointers and were just 22 of 42 from the free throw line, but outrebounded the Rams 43-31 and outscored them 42-8 in the paint.
Coach Brian Dutcher said the key will be limiting MW rebounding leader Tomislav Buljan (10.43 per game).
Dutcher joked after Thursday night’s win “that Buljan will probably get 72 rebounds against us. I think we know what that is. I think he had 18 in one game and 24 in another. Something like that. So it doesn’t change for us. … We have to rebound the basketball. We can’t get dominated on the glass. If we rebound, then we can play with anybody in this tournament.”
They also need to correct the 20 missed free throws.
“We escaped tonight with some bad free-throw shooting,” Dutcher said. “I’m going to fire the free-throw coach, but it’s me, so I’m going to give myself one more day to try to get it right.”
How to watch New Mexico vs. San Diego State
Date: Friday, March 13
Game time: 9 p.m. PT
Where: Thomas & Mack Center | Las Vegas
How to watch: CBS Sports Network
How to listen: San Diego Sports 760 (local)