The single most consistent factor that determines success in sports (most team sports, at least) is the ability to take care of the ball. Turnovers can kill a team’s chances to win while handing a victory to the other guys.
San Diego State got a hard lesson in that on Saturday at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs lost to Arkansas-Little Rock 49-43, snapping a streak of 27 straight home wins against unranked, non-conference teams. SDSU turned the ball over 16 times and only made 13 shots from the floor.
The Aztecs finished 13-46 from the field, a dismal 28.3% shooting. Here’s how their starting five fared against the Trojans:
Skylar Spencer, F – 0-1 shooting, 0 pts.
Winston Shepard, F – 0-6 shooting, 0 pts.
Malik Pope, F – 2-6 shooting, 4 pts.
Trey Kell, G – 0-3 shooting, 1 pt.
Jeremy Hemsley, G – 3-10 shooting, 11 pts.
Add it up and that makes 16 points on 5-26 shooting for the starting lineup. Hemsley, the freshman point guard, tied with Dakari Allen for the team lead with 11 points. Fellow freshman Ben Perez provided a scoring spark off the bench, hitting a trio of 3-pointers to finish with nine points. Perez is a walk-on from San Marcos High School who turned down scholarship offers from other programs to attend San Diego State.
The Aztecs had plenty of chances to win because they once again played stellar defense. Arkansas-Little Rock was led by guard Josh Hagins and his 14 points but the undefeated Trojans (3-0) only shot 35.3% from the floor.
The Aztecs fall to 2-2 on the year. Their next game is Monday night at home against East Carolina and SDSU is in a strange position. A loss drops them below .500. The last time this program had a losing record (other than being 0-1 after losing the 2012-13 opener to Syracuse before running off 11 straight wins) was at end of the 2004-2005 season.
