Aztecs bounce back from record defeat, blow out UNLV

San Diego State players spent a good portion of their pre-game layup line Monday night working on spectacular, twisting, flying dunks, which seemed an odd choice for a team that shot 28 percent and scored 37 points in a rare home loss loss two days earlier.

Maybe they knew something.

They were playing UNLV and the 116^th-rated defense according to the Kenpom metric, not Boise State’s ninth-rated D that held them without a basket for nearly 10 minutes to open the second half in Saturday’s 42-37 loss. And they would get ample opportunity to dunk.

Hard to miss dunks.

The Aztecs rebounded from an unfathomable, forgettable night with an easy 80-55 win against a Rebels team that looked disinterested when it didn’t look fatigued, playing for the third time in five days.

“A good bounce-back win,” said coach Brian Dutcher, whose team logged the 300^th SDSU men’s victory inside Viejas Arena. “It’s always easier when the ball goes in the basket. When you score 37 points, the coach doesn’t sleep well for two nights, just trying to figure out how to score 50.”

Now his Aztecs (11-4, 3-1) get to feel UNLV’s pain, making the arduous trip to the Cache Valley for a Wednesday night game at altitude against Utah State – their third in five days.

San Diego State’s Lamont Butler slams the ball between UNLV’s Royce Hamm Jr.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

But at least they won’t head into the high mountains with low confidence, showing themselves that, yes, they can be an efficient and proficient offensive team.

Saturday: zero points through the opening 5:50.

Monday: 15.

Saturday: 37 points in the entire game.

Monday: 37 points with 1:35 left in the first half.

Saturday: 14 points in the second half.

Monday: 38 (after scoring 42 in the first).

“We definitely struggled offensively,” senior guard Matt Bradley said. “After the game we had to do a lot of reflection and watch a lot of film and see where we made mistakes, and they were very obvious. They were very correctable.

“I think I’m unselfish, but sometimes I get so caught up in holding my role as one of the guys who needs to score the ball that I can be frustrated and lose sense of myself. In film I saw I can play without the ball, I can get let the ball flow a little more and not be a ball-stopper. And also use my strength, not settle for hard shots. Just really simplifying my game.”

Bradley had 10 points on 3 of 13 shooting against Boise State and spent most of the night pounding the basketball on the perimeter while his teammates stood around and watched him. He sported a new haircut and renewed offensive aggression Monday, making quicker decisions and producing his best performance since transferring from Cal – 27 points on 10 of 11 shooting to go with six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“I didn’t like my last hairstyle,” Bradley said. “It just wasn’t me. I think I was trying to be somebody I’m not. I had to go fresh with it.”

“More aerodynamic,” Dutcher said.

Bradley’s offensive epiphany forced Rebels defenders to help and opened up the floor for others. Trey Pulliam had 11 points after scoring four, two and four in his previous three games. Lamont Butler added nine, Nathan Mensah eight and Joshua Tomaic seven.

San Diego State’s Chad Baker-Mazara goes up for a lay-up against UNLV.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Perhaps even more impressive, though, was what happened not in the halfcourt but in transition. Dutcher had made a point about getting easy points on the break after the Aztecs managed just two Saturday. They had 23 on Monday, six coming on rewind-the-DVR dunks in the first half.

There was the 6-foot-2 Butler taking a no-look bounce pass from Bradley and slamming over 6-2 Michael Nuga and 6-9 Royce Hamm Jr.

There was Keshad Johnson getting a steal at midcourt on the ensuing possession and throwing down a two-handed windmill.

There was Butler again a few minutes later, with a one-handed windmill.

“We definitely feed off that,” Pulliam said. “I mean, Keshad gets out on the break and we know what time it is. But I think Lamont surprised us with the windmill. That definitely got us going.”

The 80 total points are a season high. The 42 points and 62.1 percent shooting in the first half are all 2021-22 bests for a half.

It completes the season sweep against the Rebels (11-9, 3-4) and makes it 19 of the last 21 for the Aztecs against the closest thing they have to an in-conference basketball rival.

“We were a step behind, we were a step slow,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “Our main focus going into the game was knowing they just lost here on Saturday, and they don’t lose a lot of games here. They came out and threw the first punch. I thought we did OK in the first four minutes. Then they continued to swing away, and we didn’t really have an answer at that point.”

SDSU won the first meeting on Jan. 1 without Pulliam or Butler, the former out from COVID-19 protocols, the latter with a fractured wrist. Instead, Dutcher went big and pounded the Rebels on the boards with a triple-post lineup, converting 16 offensive boards into 23 second-chance points.

SDSU had only nine offensive rebounds Monday (for 11 points), but that was less a function of personnel than mathematics. When you make 52.5 percent of your shots, there aren’t as many missed shots to chase.

Dunks are hard to miss, although the Aztecs finally missed one. Keith Dinwiddie had an uncontested breakaway in the closing seconds and tried a two-hander that rimmed out.

Walk-on Jared Barnett was there to grab the rebound and put it in before the buzzer.

“The biggest thing was not letting the past game affect this one,” Bradley said. “Right after the game, our mindset was right onto the next one. As a team, we could have let that really affect us. We were really locked in and knew what we needed to do. We had a ton of confidence knowing we beat this team the last time, and (now) we had Trey and Lamont coming back, which is definitely what we needed.”

Notes

The Mountain West rescheduled the Nevada game originally set for Jan. 8 at Viejas Arena and postponed because of COVID issues in the Wolf Pack program. It’s now Sunday, Feb. 6, at a time to be determined. SDSU plays at Colorado State on Feb. 4 and at San Jose State on Feb. 9 … Chad Baker-Mazara returned after not playing against Boise State, finishing with two points and two rebounds in nine minutes. He also was assessed a technical foul for taunting (pointing at the scoreboard) and a flagrant foul (for an elbow) … UNLV’s Keshon Gilbert got a T a few minutes earlier for shoving Johnson out of bounds after fouling him …

SDSU is now has won 19 straight following a loss when the next game is at home … The Aztecs had a season-high 15 steals and a 48-20 advantage in points in the paint, although many of those came on fast breaks from the steals … SDSU was 12 of 15 from the line after making only one free throw against Boise State … Former SDSU Athletic Director Jim Sterk was sitting courtside … Bryce Hamilton led UNLV with 23 points (8 of 17 shooting) after scoring 32 and 30 in his previous two games. Jordan McCabe was the only other Rebels player in double figures with 10 … UNLV shot 31.7 percent, meaning the Aztecs have held all four of their conference opponents under 32 percent. That was enough to bump them from third to second in Kenpom defensive efficiency.