San Diego State men’s basketball supporters fear not – Saturday’s 69-48 loss to Arizona was one bad loss but still only one bad loss.
So step down from the ledge, put down the gun and untie the noose – the game’s over (well, it was over in the first five minutes, but that’s another story).
What does the loss mean, anyway? 8-2 instead of 9-1. A few less votes in The Associated Press poll when you’re really just trying to be part of a top 64 in March, not a top 25 in December.
Sure, the blowout is a tough pill to swallow, and maybe SDSU isn’t quite as far along as everyone thought, but a loss to the Wildcats is like losing the homecoming queen to the starting quarterback. You might have all the right moves and a flashy car, but he’s taking her home in his Ford Pinto.
It was pretty much inevitable.
Inevitable when you shoot 33 percent as a team; inevitable when your top three scorers combine to shoot 12-for-42; inevitable when you hit the glass for only about 26 of the 40 minutes.
And inevitable when you look at Arizona’s lineup. There’s a reason Lute Olsen’s Wildcats are ranked No. 14. They are solid if not spectacular on the perimeter with Mustafa Shakur and imposing in the post with Ivan Radenovic and Marcus Williams. And that’s not even mentioning everybody’s favorite target, Chase Budinger, who looked nothing like he did the last time San Diegans saw him in Cox Arena, when he was named MVP of the McDonald’s High School All-American game.
Oddly enough, it was the guys who’ve played here before who struggled the most. Cox Arena is a fickle beast. It does not take kindly to jittery players. Budinger was off all night. So were SDSU’s scorers, Brandon Heath, Mohamed Abukar and Lorrenzo Wade. While the Aztecs shot 20 percent from 3-point land, the Wildcats, minus Budinger, knocked down 6-of-13. At one point, it looked like they were standing on the hot spots in NBA Jam – they couldn’t miss.
Chalk this one up to a very good team playing badly against a great team. Yes, SDSU is still a very good team. Ten games into what has a great chance to be the Aztecs’ best season, they’re no further behind with this loss. If you want true disappointment, go back to the game against Western Michigan. Now that was a bad one.
This isn’t. It’s just a loss to a better team. And as much as all you fans wanted it (quick side note: in my five years here, I’ve never seen a better crowd, so hats off), it never was in the cards.
So gather yourself, take a deep breath, swallow the tough pill and call me at the end of the season when SDSU is 26-7 and headed to the NCAA Tournament.
-Jon Gold is a journalism junior.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
