SDSU v. Tulsa

Yes, it is a really catchy headline. And we're going to keep using it until one of the SoCal D-I schools actually wins.

And a whole bunch of stuff went wrong for Coach Fred Trenkle and his San Diego State Aztecs yesterday as they lost to Tulsa on the road, 77-57. Twenty points. Big loss. And in the Western Athletic Conference opener no less.

And since 12 point deficits were so popular yesterday, (USC and UCLA both trailed by as many as 12 yesterday too before starting to mount drives) it does bear noting that before going on the 20 point slide, SDSU did actually manage to make up a 12 point deficit in the first half.

San Diego State was a bit short-handed, and the Aztecs only had nine players in uniform, and the lack of a bench hurt. While SDSU led 30-29 with 2:44 left in the first half, they were outscored 41-13 over the next 15 minutes, and just had no fresh horses to send into the game. In fact, at one point, Tulsa stretched it's lead to as many as 28 points, and the final margin was two points short of tying SDSU's worst loss this year to SW Texas (79-57) on November 26. So what does this teach SDSU: Don't play a game the weekend after a major holiday. Based upon this "holiday factor" for SDSU, we predict that they will lose their January 24 game (the weekend after the MLK holiday weekend) to Rice by at least 20 points, and probably more.

Actually, this loss should have been expected. The Aztecs haven't won a WAC road opener since the 1990-91
season. This loss dropped them to 5-6 overall on the season, and 0-1 in the conference.

Tulsa improved to 9-5 overall, and they're looking for their fifth invitation to the NCAA tournament. Tulsa had lost three of its previous four games, but celebrated after playing SDSU. The Aztecs shot just 33.9 percent from the field and a season-low 42.1 percent from the free-throw line. Tulsa wasn't much better from the line, shooting only .353, but they managed to shoot 50% from the field. SDSU practiced only four times in preparation for Tulsa, and it showed.

Jason Richey and Josko Visnjic scored 14 points each to lead the Aztecs but combined to shoot just 9-of-30.

Tulsa got 20 points and a career-best nine assists from senior point guard Rod Thompson, who did not start because of a hamstring injury but came off the bench to play 27 minutes. Junior forward Michael Ruffin (10 points, 14 rebounds) posted a double-double while helping the Hurricanes outrebound the Aztecs 54-35. Tulsa's points, field goals (31), assists (22), blocks (eight) and steals (13) were season highs for an Aztecs opponent.

SAN DIEGO ST (57)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Betts           32  4-10   0-5   2-6  0  2    8
Kruiswyk        36   3-7   3-6   3-9  1  2    9
Correa          21   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  5    0
Richey          38  5-13   2-2   2-4  6  4   14
Watts           35   2-9   0-2   1-6  6  1    4
Visnjic         23  4-17   3-4   0-2  0  2   14
Kaplansky        4   0-0   0-0   1-3  0  0    0
Brown            6   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Ross             5   2-3   0-0   0-2  0  1    6

_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-62  8-19  9-32 13 17   57
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.339, FT-.421. 3-Point Goals:
7-24, .292 (Richey 2-8, Watts 0-2, Visnjic 3-10,
Brown 0-1, Ross 2-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked
shots: 2 (Correa 2). Turnovers: 17 (Richey 7,
Betts 4, Correa 3, Kaplansky 2, Visnjic). Steals:
12 (Betts 5, Kruiswyk 2, Richey 2, Correa, Ross,
Visnjic).

TULSA (77)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Coley           19   4-6   0-4   2-3  3  4    8
Ruffin          35   5-8   0-0  4-14  3  3   10
Spurlock        19   1-1   0-0   1-2  1  1    2
Gendron         21   3-8   1-2   0-2  2  1    9
Hill            30  5-11   0-0  2-13  2  3   10
Thompson        27  7-14   2-2   0-3  9  5   20
Williams        13   1-4   0-0   0-3  0  0    3
Bennett         20   1-3   2-5   2-4  1  5    4
Cornwell         4   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
Bell            12   4-6   1-4   2-6  1  0   11
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 31-62  6-17 13-51 22 23   77
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.353. 3-Point Goals: 9-29, .310
(Gendron 2-6, Hill 0-6, Thompson 4-10, Williams 1-3, Bell 2-4).
Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 8 (Ruffin 4, Coley, Spurlock,
Bennett, Bell). Turnovers: 24 (Ruffin 6, Bennett 5, Hill 3,
Thompson 3, Bell 2, Spurlock 2, Coley, Gendron, Williams).
Steals: 13 (Gendron 4, Thompson 3, Ruffin 2, Bell, Coley,
Hill, Spurlock).

Next up for San Diego State: Monday, January 5 at Air Force., 6-3 overall, which just lost it's opener to New Mexico 92-59. Maybe SDSU can pull this one off. We'll see.