San Diego State squeaked into a bye for the Mountain West tournament, and will play a tough UNLV squad at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Aztecs may not normally root for Utah State, but they surely were Saturday as the Aggies took on New Mexico. It was a close game throughout, but Utah State, by winning 87-85, came through for SDSU as they captured sole possession of the MW regular season title.
The result left No. 21 San Diego State (22-9, 11-7 MW) as the fifth seed in the tournament, to be held in Las Vegas, and pushed New Mexico down to sixth.
That means the Aztecs can skip the opening day of the tournament, Wednesday, and head right to the quarterfinals as usual. Usual didn’t come easy this year, though, as SDSU dropped its final two games, to UNLV and Boise State, which placed their fate in Utah State’s hands.
Here’s how the top four seeds line up: Utah State, Nevada – which beat UNLV late Saturday to grab the No. 2 spot – Boise State, UNLV.
The Aztecs split the season series with most of the conference’s top teams, winning at home and losing on the road. The exception: Boise State, 2-0 against SDSU this season.
But with the MW championship in its usual venue, the Thomas and Mack Center, SDSU draws a team that will in effect be playing a home game, despite the tournament setting.
Against UNLV (19-11, 12-6 MW), SDSU won the initial meeting, on Jan. 6, but the Runnin’ Rebels heated up as the season went on, and on Tuesday they outlasted the Aztecs 62-58. Nevada broke their five-game win streak Saturday.
With Utah State crowned regular-season MW champs, head coach Brian Dutcher has shifted his attention to the conference tournament, while eyeing the bigger prize beyond – the NCAA Tournament. Selection Sunday looms on March 17.
“That’s why we’re trying to have a great non-conference regular season so we can play in the main event, the NCAA Tournament, and so we’re not going to do anything other than to try to win the Mountain West,” he said.
