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Aztecs hope good road form leads to rare win at Boise State – San Diego Union-Tribune


BOISE, Idaho – The problem with leading by 18 points at home against Utah State last weekend – and by seven with 90 seconds to go – only to lose is less about what’s in the rearview mirror than what’s ahead through the front windshield.

Now San Diego State’s basketball team goes to Boise State on Saturday (1 p.m. PST, CBS) for the first, true hostile road environment … with a young team … in a place where it has lost six of the last seven … against a team picked to win the conference … with an afternoon tip that doesn’t afford time for a morning shootaround in an arena where the current rotation has played a total of 20 career minutes.

The following Saturday, they’re at New Mexico — picked second in the preseason media poll — for the first altitude game by a roster that largely has never played in it.

Don’t pull an upset in either of those and, even if they beat Air Force at home on Wednesday, the no-longer-ranked Aztecs (8-3, 1-1) are looking at 2-3 start in the Mountain West and a massive one to climb in the conference race.

“I’m excited,” sophomore Miles Byrd said.

Excited?

“I’m excited to get to these environments where it’s a little bit more hostile on the road and see what type of team we are,” he continued. “As a team, this group of guys really likes coming together, really likes away situations.”

The statistics, as counterintuitive as that might sound for a young, inexperienced group of guys, echo that. Through the season’s first two months, they’ve been notably better away from Viejas Arena than inside it.

“It’s an interesting question,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “I don’t know why that is. We’re still trying to figure things out. It’s a young team. Where we settle at home and road, we’ll find out as the season goes on.”

The opposite was true last season with a veteran team that started five seniors. They nearly completed the first undefeated home season in Division I program history before losing — to (ahem) Boise State — in the season finale at Viejas Arena. On the road, they were more mortal, finishing 6-8 overall and 3-6 in the Mountain West.

Boise State guard O’Mar Stanley works for position as San Diego State guards Lamont Butler, left, and Reese Waters, defend during an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at ExtraMile Arena in Boise, Idaho. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP)

There was a logical explanation. Jaedon LeDee, the primary offensive weapon, got a more favorable whistle, and by extension more free throws, with home fans screaming in the ears of officials. Five of the six worst offensive efficiency performances as measured by points per possession came away from Viejas Arena, and five of the top six defensive efficiency games came at home.

This year, it’s flipped.

SDSU’s three lowest offensive efficiency performances — the only three below 1.0 points per possession — and four of the worst five have come at Viejas Arena. Four of the top offensive efficiency numbers against Division I competition have been elsewhere.

Defensive efficiency: The two worst performances — 1.157 ppp against Gonzaga and 1.221 against Cal Baptist — have been at home, and three of the top four (not counting Division III Occidental) have been on neutral courts or at Fresno State.

“At home, we’ve allowed too many teams to come back,” said Byrd, whose team blew most or all of double-digit leads against UC San Diego, USD, Cal Baptist and Utah State at Viejas Arena. “It’s not like we haven’t been playing well at home. We’ve started the games well. We just have to be consistent.

“I think that comes from not letting our offense dictate our defense. When the offense is flowing, we look great defensively. But sometimes when our offense starts to slow up, our defense starts to slow up, which can’t happen.”

They’ve been more focused, for whatever reason, in unfamiliar venues. A pair of flight cancellations before the neutral-court game against Cal pushed the team’s arrival to a few hours before tip-off and too late for a morning shootaround at San Jose’s SAP Center, and they opened the game shooting 2 of 18. But they adjusted, caught fire in the second half and led by 29 before winning 71-50.

“One thing I do know,” Byrd said, “when we played Cal, we knew they weren’t going to take it easy on us because of our flight situation. We did a really good job as a team bringing our own energy. We warmed up really loud, played through our shooting slump. For us, it’s more about playing through things.”

Another thing he knows: They haven’t faced a combustible crowd like they will against 11-3 Boise State at 12,480-seat ExtraMile Arena.

The Aztecs have played four games this season on neutral courts and one true road true road game at Fresno State in front of a smattering of Bulldogs fans.

Boise’s ExtraMile Arena, with its balconies directly above the court, can get loud.

And the Broncos, as Dutcher put it, “have had our number recently.” They’ve won three straight and six of the last seven against SDSU in any venue. At exclusively ExtraMile Arena, the Broncos have also won three straight and six of seven.

Most have been close. Other than a 20-point SDSU win at Viejas Arena in 2023 when Boise State was plagued by injuries and foul trouble, the last six meetings have all been decided by an average of 2.7 points; all were Broncos victories.

Three years ago in Boise, the Aztecs missed a pair of free throws with 7.7 seconds left and lost 58-57.

Two years ago, the Aztecs led by eight with five minutes to go, then were outscored 14-0 (including a banked-in 3 by Max Rice) to close the game and lost 66-60.

Last year, a 67-66 loss after a late comeback fell short.

Six weeks later, they met again at Viejas Arena. The Broncos won 79-77 in overtime after the Aztecs twice blew double-digit leads and Rice swished a desperation heave well beyond the arc at the shot-clock buzzer in OT to snap a 21-game home win streak.

“They’ve just made more timely plays than we have with the game on the line,” said Dutcher, whose program is 33-4 in its last 37 games following a loss, although few of those have been on the road against an opponent of Boise State caliber. “It’s a rebound on a missed free throw, Max Rice throwing in a deep, deep 3 a year ago. They’ve made the plays, and that’s a credit to their coaching staff and their program.

“We have a longtime rivalry with Boise State, but I always like to think it’s a healthy one because I like the coaching staff and I like the guys on their team. But when we compete, we compete. We have to find a way to go into an environment that’s electric against a team that is picked to win the league and try to get a road kill – try to steal one on the road.”

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