With exactly a month left in the regular season, San Diego State sits in a four-way tie for first place in the Mountain West, with No. 22 Utah State, No. 25 New Mexico and Boise State.
The Aztecs – back in the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 24 – remain on the road Friday, taking on Nevada (18-5, 5-4 MW), which has the conference’s toughest defense – yes, even tougher than SDSU’s (18-5, 7-3 MW).
The Wolf Pack are coming off a 77-63 road win over Utah State, a team San Diego State also defeated last week.
And SDSU, like Nevada, has won two games straight. The Aztecs on Tuesday followed up their win over the Aggies at home with a 77-64 victory over Air Force (8-14, 1-9 MW). In their commanding opening half, they achieved a rare feat, shooting 70% from the field, 72.7% on three-pointers and 75% on free throws.
Reese Waters led SDSU with 15 points, all on a career-high five threes. Both Jaedon LeDee and Micah Parrish had 14 points and Lamont Butler added 11.
“We’ve shot it well the last three games, which has made a huge difference in our performance,” said head coach Brian Dutcher. “We’ve hit 10, nine and 11 threes our last three games and shot them at a high percentage. It makes us a much more dangerous offensive team and now with the inside-out game, we’re getting better offensively.”
As for Nevada – which they defeated at home 71-59 last month – they will have to contend with a team that matches up well with them on both sides of the ball. The Wolf Pack on average scores 76.57 a game, just ahead of the Aztecs at 76.26, while on defense they give up 66.13 points to SDSU’s 67.17.
Jarod Lucas scores almost 17 a game for Nevada and is nearly a lock from the free-throw line, at .912. Kenan Blackshear adds 15.65 points and almost five assists a game.
With a group of talented defenders on deck, Waters sees another benefit to his team’s hot hand – drawing defenses away from LeDee, the conference’s leading scorer.
“When I’m hitting,” the guard said, “when Micah’s hitting, Lamont [Butler], Jay Pal, it’s going to open up the floor for Jaedon to have an easier time in the paint and not get dealt with all the time.”
Tipoff in Nevada is set for 5 p.m.
