MWC now looks like a 3-bid league

The BYU Cougars dealt the San Diego State Aztecs a huge blow to their NCAA Tournament chances on Wednesday night. Almost every prognosticator believes the Aztecs, now 20-8, are a team on the bubble. Most feel they are on the outside looking in, and that they had to win Wednesday night at the Marriott Center. Now, it will likely take winning the Mountain West Conference tournament in two weeks for the Aztecs to get a bid, otherwise, the conference is going to be a two, maybe a three-bid league. New Mexico and BYU are locks, UNLV is also on the bubble.
The reason the Aztecs didn’t get that much-needed win was BYU’s secret weapon got in the way. Once again the Cougars’ zone defense came to the rescue. The quickness of Jackson Emery, Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Haws resulted in 10 steals and forced San Diego State into 16 turnovers. The Cougars finished with a 23-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.
“The guys were really good in it,” coach Dave Rose said. “We were quick and athletic to the spots.”
The way BYU’s zone stopped San Diego State’s dribble penetration, interior passing, and basically forced the Aztecs into a perimeter game was impressive. The Aztecs normally live in the paint, but took 22 3-point shots, making seven.
“If you’re going to be able to beat a zone you eventually have to make some perimeter shots,” Aztec coach Steve Fisher said.
But the real killer was the way BYU rebounded in the zone and then ran, scoring 20 fast-break points.
“We eventually said we have to start putting three people back instead of two people back,” Fisher said.
The Cougars actually started off in a man defense until two quick dunks by Malcom Thomas changed that plan. Normally, Rose likes to switch to the zone with the lead so it speeds up and surprises the opposing team, but he couldn’t wait on Wednesday.
“We were having such a hard time guarding them man to man. We double-teamed their post a couple of times and they got right straight to the rim . . . We just wanted to give them another look and see how they’d attack it, and it was actually effective for us,” Rose said.
Few figured the Cougars would outrebound the Aztecs, 38-37, and hold them to eight offensive boards.
“With those guys it’s just a dogfight,” Emery said. “You have to go in and you have to box out, and as guards we have to go in and help our big guys. These guys are long, they’re athletic, and from point guard to center they can all jump. But mostly in rebounding it comes down to you have to just want it more than them.”
Once the Cougars had the game at their pace, the tired-looking Aztecs got into foul trouble chasing them down and trying to stop Fredette’s penetration.
“If you get them in a little bit of foul trouble and really push that ball for 40 minutes, that’s going to cause them some problems,” Rose said.

Free-throw woes: Going into Wednesday’s game, Jimmer Fredette was shooting 90 percent from the free-throw line. In one stretch this season he made 39 straight, a school record. Against the Aztecs, however, his missed five of 11 attempts -which likely cost him another 30-point game.
“I felt tentative. I don’t know exactly what it was,” Fredette said.
Freshman Brandon Davies missed the front end of a one-and-one, which means he’s only three of his last 10, and is now shooting under 50 percent (11-of-23) from the line in MWC games.