San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher sat on the visitor’s bench at The Pit on Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque, watching jubilant New Mexico fans file out of the famed arena following an 81-76 Lobos victory that was his team’s third conference loss in the last four games.
“The Mountain West,” he said, “has been unforgiving. We’re basically cannibalizing each other.”
The next team that wants to devour the Aztecs is Boise State on Tuesday night at ExtraMile Arena (6 p.m. PST, CBS Sports Network). The Broncos will have the added hunger of Senior Night and Jan. 3.
That’s when these teams met at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs led by 24 in the first half, then needed three overtimes, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by BJ Davis and an egregious officiating error to prevail 110-107.
Aztecs forward Jeremiah Oden got his fifth foul in the second OT, but the scorer’s table had him with only four because official David Walker put up the wrong hand signal and Oden’s third foul was assigned to teammate Pharaoh Compton instead. Oden played in the third OT and hit a crucial 3-pointer in what turned out to be a three-point Aztecs win.
Boise State coach Leon Rice argues with official Rob Kueneman before getting a technical foul Saturday night at Viejas Arena. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It was the first Mountain West game of Walker’s career, and maybe his last. He hasn’t worked in the conference since, assigned to low-level games in the MAC, Horizon and Summit.
That’s little consolation for the sixth-place Broncos (18-11, 10-8), who lost their next three games and tumbled to 1-5 after being picked to finish third in the preseason media poll. They’ve been digging out ever since.
Did the hangover from Viejas Arena linger?
“For sure it did, absolutely,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “I was trying everything to get us moved on but sometimes those events can create a ripple in a bad way, so you fight for it and you have to pull yourself out of it, and we eventually did. … You can’t waste any time on what-ifs because it goes both ways over your career and you have to just keep rolling with it and find a way to shake it off. But like I said, it’s easier said than done.”
Added senior forward Javan Buchanan: “I’m sure it definitely drained us emotionally because everyone wanted to win that game badly. But things happen.”
That sets the stage for Tuesday night at 12,380-seat ExtraMile Arena, which is trending toward the season’s first sellout.
“Obviously, that game was so crazy that everyone is like, yeah, we have to get that win back,” said Buchanan, who had a career-high 29 points. “We deserved that win, but you have to show up and do it.”
Rice and Buchanan spoke Monday afternoon at media availability, which Boise State regularly has before every game, home or away. SDSU once again did not schedule availability with Dutcher or his players — not just for the Union-Tribune but all local outlets — for the third time ahead of the last four games.
Reese Dixon-Waters #39 of San Diego State shoots free throws after Leon Rice of Boise State was issued a technical foul during their game at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It was a frustrating February for the second-place Aztecs (19-9, 13-5), who historically improve as the season progresses and play their best basketball in the month.
Instead, they went 4-3, their worst February record in Dutcher’s nine seasons as head coach. They were a combined 48-12 in the previous eight and never lost more than twice. From 2020 to 2023, they were 25-4.
Two of the losses were resume killers, at home against Grand Canyon with the added motivation of a Jan. 21 road loss to the Antelopes on an iffy whistle, then on the road at a Colorado State team they beat by 23 a month earlier at Viejas Arena. Saturday’s loss in The Pit was expected, at least according to computer projections, but was wrenching nonetheless after taking an 11-point lead in the first half and being tied inside a minute to go.
Most bracketologists have first-place Utah State firmly in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, New Mexico as one of the last teams in and SDSU as one of the first teams out.
That would give the cannibalized Mountain West just two teams in the NCAA Tournament after 18 over the previous four seasons.
“I think we’ll get two, no question,” Dutcher said after the loss in Albuquerque, “unless Utah State wins the regular season and the conference tournament. Then there’s a chance it’s only one. But we have to hope there’s an outside possibility we can get three Mountain West teams in.”
That would likely require someone other than Utah State or New Mexico winning the conference tournament next week in Las Vegas, and the Lobos hanging onto their tenuous at-large berth.
The Aztecs’ only certain path to the Big Dance, of course, is to win in Las Vegas for just the fourth time in the last 15 years. The best at-large scenario would involve winning at Boise State and home against UNLV to close the regular season, then reach the Mountain West championship game by beating the Lobos in the semifinals.
That, and hope there aren’t “bid stealers” from teams unworthy of at-large consideration getting an automatic berth by winning their conference tournament and bumping everyone else down one notch.
Either way, it makes for an intriguing final week in the final year of the Mountain West as we know it. Let the feast begin.
San Diego State (19-9, 13-5) vs. Boise State (18-11, 10-8)
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: ExtraMile Arena, Boise
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 760 AM