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The San Diego State Aztecs tied for third with UNLV in the MWC and received the 4 seed with the Rebels holding the tie breaker over the Aztecs. Today the 4-seed Aztecs will face the 5-seed Colorado State Rams in their third match-up of the season. The Aztecs won both of those tilts, the first one at CSU a 64-52 victory for San Diego State, and more recently, a 68-55 victory in San Diego for the Aztecs.
The Rams struggled to shoot at a high percentage in both games, and also struggled to defend not only the Aztecs big men in All-MWC and Freshman of the Year forward Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas, but also guard DJ Gay who scored in double digits in both matchups.
Andy Ogide is the main threat for the Rams, and the Aztecs may have a tough time covering him all game because injuries have forced San Diego State to play with a short bench for most of the season and even much more recently. Guards Tyronne Shelley (thumb) and Chase Tapley (wrist) have both sat out the last few couple games and are both questionable whether or not they are able to play. Regardless, guards DJ Gay and Kelvin Davis will have to play most of the minutes and will likely get tired as the game goes on.
Unless the Rams significantly improve their shooting, the Aztecs should have no problem winning this game and advancing to the semi-finals. The Aztecs do struggle with turnovers and free throw shooting but have been improving on both of those fronts as the season went on. As long as they defend for 40 minutes and play their game, we should see the Aztecs face the Lobos (most likely) this weekend.
The Aztecs and Lobos split the season series with each team winning their home game.