Defensive Battle Looms In Mountain West Battle

Boise State vs. San Diego State, 10:00 ET

We were finally able to break free from the mediocrity and the average days of 1-1 and went 2-0 yesterday. I mentioned it yesterday but Thursday's slate was a little light considering the big day that is coming for the Saturday slate. Still, when you look and spend as much time finding different games and angles, it doesn't matter how many games there are, there is an edge to be had and we will find it. Tonight, I'm looking at another game in the Mountain West as we play a game between Boise State and San Diego State. 

Boise State comes into this contest with a really nice 21-9 record and a 12-5 record within the conference. That has them in second place within the conference, just a game back of first place. They are coming off of a loss where they dropped a game at home to Nevada. In that contest, they lost by 10 and they shot very poorly from three. The other side of that is that Nevada, a team that shot outstanding from deep, going 12-24 from beyond the arc. Before that Boise State won five straight games. None of those games were particularly close. The Mountain West isn't a great conference, but Boise State was taking care of business. Prior to that five game winning streak, they lost two games on the road - one to Colorado State and one to Utah State. Overall, on the road, the team is 6-2 within the conference, so traveling hasn't been a big issue for them this season. They did play San Diego State earlier in the season, and they were able to record a home victory 67-66. Obviously, that isn't exactly a convincing victory, but it could give them a bit of confidence heading into tonight's contest to at least know they can hang with this team. 

San Diego State has to have its eyes set on revenge tonight. After that loss on the road, a game that was close pretty much the entire time, you have to expect them to find a way to get this one. They are currently ranked 21st in the nation, but their recent stretch of games has been a bit of a mixed bag. They are just 2-2 over their past four games and are 8-6 over their last 14 games. They started their season very hot, going 14-2 to begin the year. The Aztecs conference losses (six of them) have all come on the road. At home, they have been very dominant with only one conference game being within 10 points, and that one was an eight-point victory over San Jose State in their most recent home game. Jaedon LeDee is the main force for the Aztecs, putting up 20.5 points per game and grabbing 8.3 rebounds. He is one of the better frontcourt players in college basketball. The rest of the team is rounded out with a lot of guards that are decent enough scorers that find ways to help remove some of the pressure off of LeDee. While only one other player on the team averages double-digits this season, they have a solid rotation of seven or eight guys. 

Boise may come into this game with renewed motivation in hopes of trying to keep their spot in the standings and to try and get a win on the road where they have played rather well. San Diego State is probably the better team, and they are also coming off of a loss. They've been dominant at home as well and gave Boise one of the hardest games of the season. I'll take the under in this game though. The first matchup went to 133, and this one is 135.5. There isn't much room for error here, but I'll back the under. 

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