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3 thoughts: No. 20 San Diego State basketball team overwhelms Colorado State

kevin lytle, fort collins coloradoan
·4 min read
1

A thumping.

In a matchup of a team headed for a strong seed in the NCAA Tournament against a struggling foe near the bottom of the conference, the game played out to script.

The No. 20/22 San Diego State men’s basketball team dominated Colorado State Tuesday night at Viejas Arena, winning 77-58.

Here are three thoughts on the loss for the Rams.

San Diego State bullies CSU

The Rams (12-16, 4-11 Mountain West) looked overwhelmed early by the defensive length, strength and pressure from San Diego State (22-5, 13-2 MW).

SDSU was effective in causing turnovers and scoring in the paint.

And then the Aztecs just throw in another wave of players who cause their own problems. Their depth helped overwhelm CSU.

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It was a 15-point San Diego State lead at half and to 20 points 4 minutes into the second half. The Aztecs' lead never dipped under that 20-point margin until there were fewer than 30 seconds left and the benches had been emptied.

CSU matched San Diego State in shooting percentage (48%), but the Rams gave up 16 turnovers, hit only three 3-pointers and were outscored 35-19 in bench points. San Diego State shot 23 free throws to nine for CSU.

A lot of the raw numbers looked manageable for CSU — rebounding was 29-26 for SDSU and second-chance points were just 9-8 for the Aztecs — but the hosts did everything better and it added up to a big win margin.

"They are who we thought they were, right? They're physical, they're tough, they do a great job with their press. We clearly didn't do a great job of it early getting into our offense," CSU coach Niko Medved said on the postgame show on 99.1 FM.

Five Aztec players were in double figures. John Tonje led CSU with 18 points and Isaiah Stevens had 15, but no other Ram scored more than seven.

Anything that can go wrong…

Feb 21, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; Colorado State Rams guard John Tonje (1) looks on from the bench during the second half against the San Diego State Aztecs at Viejas Arena. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 21, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; Colorado State Rams guard John Tonje (1) looks on from the bench during the second half against the San Diego State Aztecs at Viejas Arena. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

It’s the Murphy’s Law season for CSU. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

There are the well-documented injury and illness issues throughout the lineup all season long and some of the consistent on-court woes.

Then Tuesday came a new hurdle when the Rams were tripped up, quite literally, by the refs.

With fewer than 30 seconds left in the first half CSU was trying to break a San Diego State press when Stevens caught a pass. As he tried to accelerate his feet were caught in the legs of referee Eric Curry, who was well out on the court.

Stevens and Curry tumbled to the court in front of CSU’s bewildered bench. San Diego State picked up the ball and Patrick Cartier was forced to foul Lamont Butler, picking up his third foul right before half.

It was a 13-point game at the time of the turnover, leading to a 15-point Aztecs lead at half.

The incident likely didn’t change the outcome of the game but was another “are you kidding me?” moment for the Rams.

Stevens — who missed the start of the season with a broken foot — is playing on an injured ankle but didn’t appear to suffer any ill effects from the fall.

It was surely an innocent mistake from the referee, but just another weird and frustrating moment for CSU in a season full of them.

Stretch run time

Even in the best of circumstances, and CSU hasn’t had those this season, a game at Viejas Arena is always going to be about the toughest on the schedule.

Now the Rams are past that cauldron and into the final three games of the season.

All three have their own challenges but could also be considered winnable. The Rams host Wyoming at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24. The Rams will look for payback for an earlier loss and to avoid falling into the Mountain West basement.

Then it’s a rematch with former coach Tim Miles (Feb. 28) at San Jose State (sixth in the MW) and the finale March 3 at home against a New Mexico team (fifth in the MW) currently reeling a bit.

Can the Rams build some winning momentum before the Mountain West tournament?

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: No. 20 San Diego State basketball team overwhelms Colorado State