RENO —The San Diego State Aztecs know what they are good at.
“Defense,” guard Aqeel Quinn said. “That’s our starting point.”
The Aztecs, which will take on the Nevada Wolf Pack at Lawlor Events Center Wednesday night (7 p.m.), are the best defensive team in the Mountain West, allowing a conference-low 53.1 points a game. The Aztecs, 17-5 overall, are also tied atop the Mountain West at 7-2 with Wyoming.
“I think we have as good a defensive team as we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Aztecs coach Steve Fisher, now in his 16th season at San Diego State.
The Aztecs have held 11 opponents under 50 points this year, lead the conference in lowest opponent’s shooting percentage (.373) and are second in steals at 7.6 a game. The Wolf Pack, which has lost six games in a row to fall to 6-14 overall and ninth in the Mountain West at 2-6, have struggled this year on offense. The Pack is 10th in the Mountain West in scoring at 61.8 points a game and is the worst 3-point shooting team in the league with a .252 success rate.
“They are very talented defensively,” Wolf Pack coach David Carter said. “They are very consistent on defense. He’s (Fisher) built it on defense.”
Carter is expecting a low-scoring contest.
“Every possession will be huge,” he said. “Against them you won’t get many possessions and defensively we’re going to have to guard for 30 seconds. They won’t be in a hurry to score. We also can’t turn the ball over.”
The Aztecs have won 10 of their last 12 games and are coming off two home victories over Utah State (62-42) and Fresno State (58-47) where their defense simply suffocated the life out of their opponents. The Aztecs, though, also have problems scoring the ball, averaging just 62.5 points a game. They have just two players (Quinn at 11.2 points a game and Winston Shepard at 10.3) who are averaging in double figures. J.J. O’Brien averages 8.6 a game.
“They have guys who can score but they just haven’t had their whole team healthy this year,” Carter said.
The Aztecs have played without versatile 6-foot-7 forward Dwayne Polee since late December. Polee, who was averaging 8.4 points a game, collapsed during a game against UC Riverside on Dec. 22 and has yet to be cleared to play.
“He was kind of their spark plug,” Carter said. “He always seemed to make things happen when he was on the floor.”
San Diego State, which has qualified for the last five NCAA tournaments and appears to be on its way to its 10th consecutive season with 20 or more victories, has lost two Mountain West games on the road this year, falling at Colorado State 79-73 on Jan. 24 and at Fresno State 59-57 on Jan. 3.
“We’re getting better,” said O’Brien, a 6-7 senior. “We’ve learned that we are pretty good at dealing with adversity.”
The Aztecs, 3-0 against Nevada since the Wolf Pack joined the Mountain West for the 2012-13 season, insist they are not taking this game lightly.
“I have a great fondness for this team because of the way they prepare for each game,” said Fisher, who won a NCAA championship in 1989 with Michigan.
Fisher said his Aztecs are well aware of the Wolf Pack’s A.J. West. The 6-9 junior leads the Mountain West in rebounding at 9.9 a game and also leads the league with 5.9 offensive rebounds a game.
“Their big man is a beast,” O’Brien said.
West will have to deal with the Aztecs’ O’Brien (5.4 rebounds a game) Shepard (5.0) and Skylar Spencer (5.1 rebounds, 56 blocks) on the boards.
“The first thing that concerns me about Nevada is West,” Fisher said. “He’s a phenomenal rebounder, with great hands, long arms, good positioning and timing. We’ve got to keep him off the glass.”
“It’s definitely going to be hard for me because those guys are so active,” West said. “I have to do a lot of work. They play great defense.”
The Wolf Pack is off to its worst start after 20 games since it was 5-15 in 1999-00. The Wolf Pack, though, hasn’t lost hope with 10 games remaining in the regular season.
“If we attack and make smart decisions and don’t turn the ball over we should be in good shape,” said guard Tyron Criswell, who is averaging 8.4 points a game.
Criswell and fellow guard Eric Cooper will make their fourth starts of the season against the Aztecs. Since the two guards have been in the starting the lineup the Pack has gone 0-3 and has averaged 60 points a game. Criswell has averaged 17 points a game and Cooper has averaged 13.7 a game but has gone just 7-of-27 on 3-pointers.
Fisher, though, is well aware of Cooper’s talents.
“We recruited him,” said Fisher of the Southern California guard. “He can shoot that basketball. When he makes one he wants the next shot.”
Carter also hasn’t lost confidence in his freshman point guard.
“The shots just haven’t been falling for him,” Carter said. “But he’s one of our best shooters.”
“I know they want me to shoot so I just have to go out there and keep being aggressive,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the Wolf Pack is ready to protects its home court against the Mountain West leaders.
“If we go out, play hard and play smart, this could be a big win for us and spark a streak of wins,” he said.
