I just got home from attending the San Diego State men’s basketball game, which the Aztecs won by 36 points against a putrid San Jose State team with three wins to its name. It’s super late thanks to the CBS Sports Network mandated 8 p.m. start, and I have to get up early tomorrow to fight through another rainy commute full of standing water and spun-out Acuras on the 8.
As such, I’m going to set my time limit on writing this recap at one hour.
OK. Start the countdown … now!
That lethargic, uninspired feeling I’ve got staring at my keyboard right now? That’s kind of how SDSU looked in the first half and …. look, I get it. The Aztecs were facing the dregs of the conference in a half-empty arena after a week layoff. That is not exactly a recipe for intensity or crispness or anything other than half-assing it.
Yet at halftime, SDSU woke up and mustered a dominant second half that turned a head scratching 9-point lead into an 85-49 pulverization. SDSU pressed the Spartans into oblivion during a 16-0 run that blew things wide open. Freshman Jalen McDaniels dominated during that decisive stretch, logging three points, a block, two steals and two rebounds.
McDaniels filled the hell out of the stat sheet again tonight, with 13 points, 7 boards, 4 steals and two blocks in only 23 minutes.
Isn’t it weird how normal this seems now? The kid played only eight minutes against USD. Five weeks later, he’s out here committing cold-blooded murder.
I … I think he might be.
SDSU has some pretty good upperclassmen, too, of course, and they opportunistically compounded SJSU’s already well-honed sense of misery. Junior Devin Watson slashed to the hoop for 15 points and 6 assists. Max Montana added 17 points, which is weird because I swear he had only 2 when I left my seat and headed for the parking structure. Senior Malik Pope shrugged off a sluggish start to also score 17 points, including some prime dunkage of his own.
As for San Jose State, the George Papadopoulos of the Mountain West, the highlights were decidedly fewer. They included:
- Some dude throwing an alley-oop pass that accidentally went in
- Some dude getting a tech for hanging on the rim while his team was down a billion points
- Having unis that made them kind of look like the Warriors if you squint
SDSU, now with an 11-4 record and 50-something RPI/KenPom ratings, faces Boise State Saturday in the City of Trees (??) in a game with huge conference title implications. The Broncos are probably better than San Jose State.
Oh, hey! Time’s up.
Good night, friends.
KABEER THIRTY 