NCAAB Game Preview - San Diego State at Nevada

Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:00 PM EST

Mountain West Conference champion and No. 5-ranked San Diego State closes out its historic regular season Saturday at Lawlor Events Center against Nevada in Reno.

The Aztecs (27-1, 16-1 Mountain West) avoided a second consecutive loss after winning their first 26 games, rallying in the second half to beat Colorado State on Tuesday. The 66-60 victory came three days after San Diego State fell to UNLV, 66-63.

"If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: winning a college basketball game is hard," San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said in his postgame press conference. "I don't care who you're playing, or where you're playing. It's hard to win a game."

Colorado State took a seven-point lead with a little over eight minutes remaining, before San Diego State All-America candidate Malachi Flynn led a 17-4 push to close out the contest.

Flynn finished with 17 points, just over his team-leading average of 16.9 on the year.

"As a group, we didn't want to lose. We didn't want to lose two in a row, so we just buckled down on the defensive end and started getting stops and people made shots," Flynn said in the postgame press conference.

Flynn functioned as both a scorer and facilitator in San Diego State's last meeting with Nevada (19-10, 12-5), a 68-55 win at Viejas Arena on Jan. 18.

A San Diego State offense that has flourished with its balance all season long was especially effective against the Wolf Pack, getting 17 points from Yanni Wetzell, 14 from Flynn, 12 from Jordan Schakel, and 11 from Matt Mitchell.

In contrast, Nevada had just two scorers - Jalen Harris with 19 and Jazz Johnson with 13 - score more than five points.

Harris and Johnson are the driving engines for Nevada's offense in general, their last time out scoring 23 and 13 points in a 73-68 win over Wyoming on Tuesday. However, Nisre Zouzoua added eight points off the bench in the win. He scored just two against San Diego State.

Tuesday marked six straight wins for Nevada. The Wolf Pack have another winning streak going coming into Saturday's contest: They have won 10 straight at Lawlor Events Center since losing to USC there on Nov. 16.

"[Saturday] is Senior Night here, so there's emotions attached," Nevada coach Steve Alford said in his Feb. 21 press conference, looking ahead to the Wolf Pack's closing stretch.

Lawlor Events Center -- a venue at which San Diego State has not won since January 2016 -- should be rocking with the combination of Senior Night, the Aztecs' high ranking, and Nevada still with a shot at finishing second in the Mountain West.

While the Wolf Pack reaching a fourth straight NCAA Tournament is contingent on it winning the Mountain West Tournament, which begins March 4 in Las Vegas, their strong finish in Alford's first year as head coach is a positive development beyond 2020.

Alford noted the development of freshmen K.J. Hymes and Zane Meeks, as well as sophomore Robby Robinson.

--Field Level Media