Utes travel to San Diego looking for another upset.

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Feb 20, 2010 4:01 PM PST in Basketball

The Utah Runnin' Utes (5-6, 12-13) are coming off a huge upset victory over UNLV to finish off the season sweep and travel to San Diego to face the Aztecs (8-4, 19-7) looking for another upset victory. The Aztecs won the first game of the season 70-68 at the Huntsman Center in a game that was much closer than it should have been because of the Aztecs poor free throw shooting. Utah has been on a roll lately, forcing New Mexico into overtime in a game they could have won and beating UNLV pretty convincingly at home. However, the Utes are only 3-5 on the road this season and the Aztecs are 12-1; and Utah has not won in San Diego in 4 years, making this a real challenge for the Utes. The Aztecs are looking for the first season sweep of the Utes since 1982.

Next Game

Utah Utes
@ San Diego St. Aztecs

Saturday, Feb 20, 2010, 6:00 PM PST
Viejas Arena

The Mtn, CBS College Sports

Complete Coverage >

The Aztecs have won three straight and at 19-7 are looking to reach their 20th win for the fifth straight season, which would be a school record. After suffering a high ankle sprain against New Mexico, Billy White if finally getting back to 100% and leading the trio of huge forwards for the Aztecs of White, Kawhi Leonard, and Malcolm Thomas. Freshman Leonard was picked as preseason MWC freshman of the year and has twice been picked as MWC player of the week; he leads the Aztecs in scoring and rebounding, averaging near a double double.

Carlon Brown is the man for the Utes and head leads Utah in scoring at 13.8 points per game. He has been dominant in Utah's last two games against New Mexico and UNLV, two of the top four teams in the conference this year. In fact, the Utes swept the season series with UNLV, which isn't an easy feat to accomplish. They also took New Mexico to overtime at the Pit the game before, losing after a controversial call. Of course, all of the MWC referees are terrible so it's usually something you have to factor in, along with all road games being very tough in the Mountain West. Either way, the Utes come into this game playing their best basketball of the season and with a lot of momentum, so they will be ready to play.

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Comments

Utes win by double digitd

actually lose by double digits

by rockies17_4 on Feb 20, 2010 5:06 PM PST reply actions

Conference needs SDSU to win.

Every SDSU win helps the conference. And I’d like to do anything possible to avoid a UNLV-Utah first round matchup in the conference tournament.

by David Fucillo on Feb 20, 2010 5:20 PM PST up reply actions

I would too

Rebel Rock

by rebelfan1 on Feb 21, 2010 7:17 AM PST up reply actions

Right now the tournament probably looks like this:

1- BYU (i’m assuming they beat SDSU and UNM at home)
8/9- UW/AF (UW is 2 games back with 3 to play and still have to play @ Utah and @UNLV)

4- UNLV (3 games to play, TCU, AF, UW, should all be wins)
5- CSU (2 back with 4 to play, including UNM and Utah at home, SDSU on the road not enough to catch UNLV even if they win out)

3- SDSU (3 games to go, including @ BYU. If SDSU loses @ BYU they’ll probably end tied with UNLV, but I’m not sure who has the tiebreaker).
6- Utah (1 game behind CSU with 4 to play, including BYU and @ CSU, if they lose to BYU and @ CSU we’ll definitely be the 6, because CSU will have the head-to-head sweep. If we beat CSU then CSU probably will be the 5)

2- UNM (depends on the BYU game. Win that and you’re the #1, lose and you’re almost certainly the #2 unless SDSU beats BYU)
7- TCU (one game behind Utah with 4 to play, but their 4 are @ UNLV, CSU, @UNM and BYU at home, likely to lose all 4)

TCU could end up the 8 if UW steals a road game from Utah or UNLV and TCU loses out. Actually, that would tie them and I’m not sure who has the tiebreaker.

The real battles are the 1-2, 3-4 and the 5-6 spots. Utah and CSU probably play at Moby for the 5th spot, while SDSU and UNLV are fighting for the 3rd spot and BYU/UNM playing for the 1st spot.

Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.

by displacedute on Feb 23, 2010 1:57 PM PST reply actions