If San Diego State was seeing red after Tuesday night’s lackluster 73-63 loss against Grand Canyon severely dented its NCAA Tournament aspirations, now the Aztecs will see orange.
Next up on the Mountain West schedule is a Saturday afternoon date at Colorado State, which conveniently selected it as the annual “Orange Out.”
It pays homage to its Colorado A&M roots, when the Rams were known as the Aggies and they wore pumpkin orange and alfalfa green.
Sounds innocuous, except the good folks of Fort Collins get geeked up over the all-orange uniforms and reciprocate by filling the bandbox of Moby Arena with orange gear themselves.
The Aztecs know the deal. They’ve been a part of five prior Orange Outs.
Lost four in absolutely bonkers, berserk atmospheres.
In all, Colorado State is 14-2 all-time when they wear orange.
Colorado State center Colton Iverson, center, joins San Diego State guard Jamaal Franklin, left, and forward Skylar Spencer in pursuing a loose ball in the second half of Colorado State’s 66-60 victory in an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Collins, Colo., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
But this is what it’s come to for an Aztecs team that was billed as maybe the best school history and suddenly finds itself with no margin for error to receive an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament if it doesn’t win the conference tournament, which, by the way, it hasn’t 11 times in the last 14 years.
Players and coaches weren’t made available to the media before the trip to Fort Collins, an increasingly common occurrence this season, but the anxiety was evident in their remarks Tuesday night after becoming the final Mountain West team to lose a conference game at home.
“The conference tournament is three weeks away,” junior guard Miles Byrd said. “We’ll worry about that when it comes. For us, it’s continue to stack days. … You just have to keep trusting the process. I trust everybody in that locker room.
“We’re frustrated, obviously, right now. But when we wake up tomorrow, we’ve got to drop it, get in and watch some film and learn from it. I’m still super confident in this team. I think we’re the best team in this conference. I’m going to continue to say that.”
Sitting next to him, freshman forward Tae Simmons said he had something to add.
“We don’t care what other people have to say about us,” Simmons said. “I think that’s a really important fact, that who cares if they had us winning (the Mountain West) before the season even started. We don’t care. It’s between us 15 guys, and that’s what is going to get us the win — not what these other people think about us.
“I think that’s what we do well as a team, is realize people are going to love us when we’re winning and we’re beating people by 20 and they’re going to hate us when we lose. That doesn’t matter, because they don’t play basketball.”
On Thursday, the NCAA brought a collection of college basketball journalists to Indianapolis to create a mock bracket using the same methodology that the Selection Committee will use in three weeks. SDSU (18-7, 12-3) was not in it.
CBS analyst Seth Davis tweeted that the Aztecs were one of nine teams vying for the final four at-large spots, which would mean another trip to the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
The problem with their resume is the dearth of quality wins. Statistically, the best win in nonconference play was Utah Valley of the WAC. They beat Oregon at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, but the Ducks are in the midst of a historically dreadful season that plunged them into the 100s in most major metrics.
Their only Quad 1 win was 73-68 at Nevada on Jan. 6, but the Wolf Pack has slipped to 70 in the NET metric following a brutal loss against San Jose State. It becomes a Quad 2 win if they drop below 75.
The good news: The remaining schedule offers Quad 1 opportunities against Utah State, New Mexico and Boise State. Finishing the regular season 5-0 could get them back in at-large contention.
The bad news: Other than a brief stretch late in the first half, nothing about Tuesday’s game against Grand Canyon indicated they’re capable of doing that.
San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher reacts during the second half against Nevada Feb. 14, 2026 in San Diego, Calif. (Photo by Denis Poroy)
Here’s what the gauntlet looks like:
Saturday at Colorado State: The Aztecs have lost three of four at Moby Arena, and the lone win was in overtime. And it’s an Orange Out.
Wednesday vs. Utah State: The Aggies have won four of the last five in the series, including at Viejas Arena last year.
Feb. 28 at New Mexico: Another altitude game in a place where the Aztecs have historically struggled, losing by 14 (while scoring only 48) last season, by 18 the year before and needing Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beater to win the year before that.
March 3 at Boise State: The Aztecs are 2-6 in their last eight trips to Extra Mile Arena. The Broncos will have the added motivation of Senior Night and revenge for SDSU’s triple overtime win at Viejas Arena on Jan. 3 (in which Jeremiah Oden was allowed to play with five fouls and hit a crucial 3 in the third OT).
March 6 vs. UNLV: The uber-talented but dysfunctional Rebels are 3-2 in the last five meetings, including a 76-68 win at Viejas Arena last year.
“It’s in our hands,” coach Brian Dutcher said Tuesday night. “Our success will be based on how we’ll perform, and that’s all any team wants.”
San Diego State (18-7, 12-3) vs. Colorado State (16-10, 7-8)
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colo.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 760-AM