Graney: Rebels have too many ‘empty possessions’ against 1st-place Aztecs

San Diego State’s basketball team missed its first six shots against UNLV on Saturday at the Thomas &Mack Center.

And when it was over — when the Aztecs had walked off with a 82-71 victory — they had shot 57 percent from the field, including 62 percent on 3s.

And when it was over, this point was clear: San Diego State made shots when it absolutely had to and the Rebels didn’t.

And that was plenty enough for the first-place Aztecs.

The Rebels (10-9, 5-3) could have climbed within a half-game of first place in the Mountain West with a victory, but instead failed to take advantage of countless opportunities.

Some of that had to do with San Diego State (14-5, 8-1).

A lot had to do with UNLV.

Gold standard

“In a game like this, you can’t leave possessions on the board,” UNLV coach Josh Pastner said. “(San Diego State) Coach (Brian) Dutcher is awesome. His record speaks for itself. They have been the gold standard in this conference for a decade or more, 15 years, I don’t know how long. But you can’t have that many empty possessions and amount of free throws we missed.

“We missed a lot of layups and short shots or missed and-one opportunities. We were trying to get over the hump, but you just can’t have that many empty possessions.”

Not good: UNLV was just 12 of 22 from the line. The place where it was able to rally from 14 points down in the second half to shock Utah State in Logan, Utah, on Tuesday is the place where they couldn’t make up any sort of difference in this one.

Think about it: The teams on Saturday had the same amount of baskets (26), rebounds (25) and turnovers (13). And the Aztecs won by 11.

Which means the Rebels really missed some shots they needed to make.

It has troubled UNLV in losses, this inability to score in close and through contact. It struggles getting and-one chances. Happened again here.

So did this: UNLV had no answer for San Diego State guard Miles Byrd, the league’s preseason Player of the Year.

Byrd would score 23 points on 7 of 8 shooting and made all five of his 3-point attempts.

This hasn’t been Byrd. He entered shooting 30.3 percent on 3s. He missed all six attempts in a one-point loss at Grand Canyon on Wednesday. He put his name in the NBA draft following last season, instead returned to school and has struggled living up to such hype.

Well, he didn’t Saturday.

“Byrd was a high-level dude today,” Pastner said. “He was outstanding. He was a stud. When they’re shooting like that, it’s a different deal.”

Said Byrd: “You’ve just got to keep shooting. You can’t let your confidence waver because you had one bad game. UNLV is a good team which had two really good wins back-to-back. I think we did a good job coming in here.”

Credit the Aztecs. They made really tough shots.

Not so for the Rebels. They started hot, hitting six first-half 3s.

But that number was decreased to 1 of 5 over the final 20 minutes.

The Utah State win was huge. It showed the Rebels can certainly play with — and in that case beat — one of the best teams in conference.

And maybe this is a different game, or at least a closer one, if some of those close-in shots or free-throws fall.

Stay connected

“I told our guys in the last timeout with 1:30 to play, ‘We’re still trying to win this game, but no matter what, we have to stay connected,’ ” Pastner said. “We have to be really connected and fighting until the end. I had no issue with our toughness and grit. We have to make sure we get better.

“We’ll watch the film (Sunday), lift and flush it. We have a quick turnaround against a really good New Mexico team here Tuesday night.”

They’ll need some layups to fall. Some and-ones to occur. More free throws to be made.

None of that happened Saturday, making the outcome against a first-place team fairly obvious.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.