Asked yesterday if the first team to 50 would likely win today's game between San Diego State and UNLV, Aztecs coach Steve Fisher returned serve with a query of his own.
“Fifty points or fifty turnovers?”
In a game matching teams whose idea of fun is to grind opponents to dust defensively, SDSU and the Rebels figure to stage a war of wills today at Cox Arena.
The first-place Aztecs, coming off an irksome loss at BYU in which some contentious calls down the stretch allowed the Cougars to escape with their 41st straight home win, hold a half-game lead over UNLV in the Mountain West Conference.
“I don't think our players are happy with me saying that (UNLV) guards better than any team in the league, but they probably do,” Fisher said. “They are a little smaller than we are, but they'll put heavy pressure on you.”
No need convincing Wyoming. In Wednesday's 78-71 win over the Cowboys at the Thomas & Mack Center, a game in which the Rebels rallied from a 10-point deficit, UNLV scored 19 points off 18 turnovers. Ranked No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the league in scoring defense, the Rebels are allowing 61.1 points per game, the Aztecs 62.7.
In a sense, it's not so much a question of who'll be the first to blink, but rather the first to wilt. In a 70-41 pummeling of BYU 11 days ago, UNLV limited the Cougars to their lowest point total of the season while forcing 19 turnovers.
“(UNLV) is a very athletic team, but I think we might have even more athleticism,” said SDSU junior forward Lorrenzo Wade, who has scored 20 or more points in three straight games. “We're a lot bigger on the wings, and I think it's about even in the post.
“UNLV is going to come in here and put a lot of pressure on the wings, and it's either going to help them or hurt them. Either they apply pressure and we fold, or their pressure is going to allow us to get a lot of easy baskets.”
The Aztecs can ill afford to discount the danger presented by Rebels junior guard Wink Adams. Having finished in double figures 16 times this season (tied for second in the league), Adams on Wednesday scored a career-high 33 points, the first time a UNLV player has exceeded 30 this season.
The Rebels, who advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 a year ago, are getting 54 percent of their scoring from Adams (15.1), senior guard Curtis Terry (11.7) and junior forward Joe Darger (11.8).
SDSU must also shake any residual remorse from Wednesday's affair at BYU, a game in which the Aztecs, who led by as many as nine in the first half, became the first team to hold a lead at intermission at the Marriott Center since Dec. 30, 2006.
“When you play another game this soon, you really don't have any choice but to forget about it,” Wade said. “I know after (the BYU game), and I'm pretty sure I can also speak for my teammates, I had a tough time sleeping. It was a loss that left a very bitter taste in our mouths. But if you dwell on it too long you're going to have a greater possibility of slipping against UNLV, and that's something we can't allow.”
Mick McGrane: (619) 293-1850; mick.mcgrane@uniontrib.com
