LAS VEGAS – Usually when the Aggies and Aztecs meet in the Mountain West Tournament, it’s in the title game.
That will not be the case in 2024.
No. 18 Utah State and San Diego State will battle to see who gets to play for the tournament championship this year. They will play Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Aggies (27-5) and Aztecs (23-9) have met in four of the last five MW Tournament championship games with each winning twice. Now they must try and eliminate each other to play for a title.
Both the Aggies and Aztecs needed overtime to just reach the semifinals. Top-seeded USU beat ninth-seeded Fresno State, 87-75, in the first quarterfinal of the day Thursday. The Aggies blasted the Bulldogs in the extra period, 17-5.
The fifth-seeded Aztecs gave up a late lead to fourth-seeded UNLV, but was able to advance in overtime. San Diego State edged the Rebels, 74-71.
“Just another night in the Mountain West,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said. “Every game is like this. Every one. It's not a surprise that this one went down to the wire. (UNLV head coach) Kevin (Kruger) has done an incredible job with this year's UNLV team. They are really good. The key to the game was rebounding.”
San Diego State certainly owned the glass. The Aztecs won the rebound battle, 50-31.
Aztec forward Jaedon LeDee came up big in overtime with a bucket and free throws. He finished with his 12th double-double of the season with 34 points and 16 rebounds.
Joining LeDee in double-figure scoring was Lamont Butler (12), Darrion Trammell (11) and Jay Pal (10), who also grabbed nine rebounds. Trammell had five assists and five steals.
In all nine losses this season, the Aztecs have led in the second half. It was looking like another game was going to get away, but it is March. San Diego State has now won 17 straight quarterfinal games in the MW Tournament. Plus, the Aztecs have played in the MW championship game 10 straight times and 14 of the last 15.
“I just told them, this is a good time to start this,” said Dutcher when asked about winning a close game. “It’s March. It's tournament time. This is a good time to start winning close games. Everything in the past is in the past. All we control is the future. Now we've got one. We've won a close game. Let's go get another one and another one and let's keep this going.”
San Diego State will be facing a USU team with some experience as in head coach Danny Sprinkle and athletes Great Osobor and Darius Brown II, who won the Big Sky Tournament last year. In fact, Sprinkle coached Montana State to the last two Big Sky titles.
“It’s not really Utah State,” Dutcher said. “It's Osobor and Brown who have played in the NCAA Tournament two years in a row. They've been to the conference championship of their league. There's Utah State playoff experience, and there's the playoff experience their players have. They've got guys that have played in important games in March, and I think they'll be ready for their opportunity and so will we.”
In two meetings during the regular season this year, each won on their home court. San Diego State won at Viejas Arena, 81-67, while USU won at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, 68-63.
San Diego State leads the all-time series with USU, 19-10.
“It's going to be a good game,” LeDee said when asked about playing USU. “I know they'll try to game plan for me, game plan for the whole team, but yeah, we're going to come with it tomorrow.”
Dutcher was asked about what he remembers about some of the recent tournament games against USU.
“I don't remember one game other than Sam Merrill banging a three on us to win it,” Dutcher said. “That's the thing I remember. That's the curse of coaching. You always remember the ones you lose. I remember that shot and what an epic game that was. Well, against our 30-2 team.”
