Monday, January 20, 2014

San Diego State on Wednesday

A treat is in store for Spartan fans regardless of the outcome Wednesday night. Yes, that's a challengeable premise but it's because San Diego State is coming to Walt McPherson Court and it will be enjoyable to witness a defense-first team plus one that plays very unselfishly.

Currently ranked #7 in the nation by the Associated Press and USA TODAY, the 16-1 Aztecs were supposed by be down some from last season but a frontcourt transfer and the improved health of a point guard have Coach Steve Fisher's squad rolling. A homecourt loss to #1 Arizona is the lone blemish thus far.

What's fascinating is that San Diego State hasn't blown out opponents, 'just' beat them, with scores such as 86-80 versus Creighton, 65-64 at San Diego, 69-66 over Boise State, a 79-72 grounding of Air Force, 68-60 in a takedown of Fresno State and a 63-52 shutdown of UNLV. The best victory is a 61-57 at Kansas triumph, one that nobody predicted.

So yes, San Diego State has outscored opponents but not via any sort of offensive explosions. They don't allow open shots which will be part of this fascinating matchup considering the Spartan propensity for crossing midcourt and letting it fly.

A key statistic: the San Diego crew is shooting 44% on the season while allow a 35% connection rate to opponents. The former is not all that impressive but the latter is amazing. It's 40% to 26% on threes. 

The backcourt leader is 6-foot-3 senior Xavier Thames, a senior out of Sacramento and a transfer from Washington State after his sophomore season. He is averaging 17.0 points per game while connecting on 43% of his overall shot attempts and 47% from long distance. 6-foot-8 sophomore Winston Sheppard is at 13.1 points an outing with half his rebounds coming offensively. He has the making of the next star of this group. 6-foot-7 JJ O'Brien scores 9.4 points per contest with 48% overall accuracy. 6-foot-8 Tulane transfer Josh Davis owns the boards at 11.5 each time out and in the middle is 6-foot-10 Skylar Spencer who has swatted away 44 shots.

Redshirt frosh 6-foot-6 backcourter Matt Shrigley is coming on after a slow start as the designated three-point shooter off the bench (two thirds of his attempts are from beyond the arc) with 6-foot-7 junior wing Dwayne Polee as one who really, really likes to shoot the ball with not much dribbling as he has attempted just 13 shots from the foul line. 

It's a 41 to 35 on the boards differential in favor of the Aztecs.

San Diego State is also a very athletic, agile bunch.

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