Aztecs Win Nail Biter Vs. Long Beach State

SDSU’s strength is their defense. They lost their previous game at Washington because their defense could not fog the offensive issues. Long Beach State came into Viejas Arena knowing they can exploit SDSU’s offensive woes and they nearly succeeded.

SDSU won this game 60-59 and the reason is they are not clicking on offense. The team looks like they do not know where the ball should be going. It looks sporadic when they continue to have long possessions because nothing is open.

Fisher wanted to move the flow down into the post, “”We wanted to try to have more low-post touches. The primary guy that we wanted to throw it to was J.J. to make the good decision. J.J., Skyler, and Angelo could go in and make the smart play out of that”. It seemed to work because J.J. O’Brien and Skyler Spencer both finished with 8 points but the team needs the go to guy in the clutch.

In different games we have seen Winston Shepard, Dwayne Polee II, and Aqeel Quinn each be the guy down the stretch of the game. Quinn is still injured and it showed when against Washington there was not an answer. This game needed someone to step in and make the difference. Dwayne Polee saw the role before him and embraced it.

Polee talked about what changed for him in this game, “I was just getting a lot of good shots. I was getting a lot of good shots in the first half as well, they just weren’t falling. Our thing this week was be aggressive and look for the open man, and make the right play, so I was just taking what was coming to me.”

The team looks incomplete at this time. There is a certain flow expected of them and Aqeel Quinn is a vital piece of that flow. Matt Shrigley has not been able to fit in that slot because he is a different type of player. SDSU needs Quinn back because he makes their second unit play better and work well with the starters.

SDSU’s next game will be at Cincinnati on December 17.