The 18th-ranked and undefeated Aztecs have had some slow starts this season but, so far, been able to overcome them. This time they fell behind too far to a good team.
San Diego State suffered its first loss of the year, 72-62 to BYU on Friday afternoon at Viejas Arena thanks in large part to a terrible time shooting the ball in the opening 20 minutes. At one point in the first half, San Diego State missed nine straight shots. They shot just 25% from the floor to fall behind 35-20 at the break.
But after halftime, senior Matt Mitchell caught fire. We've seen him go on streaks before but nothing like this. Mitchell put the entire offense on his back with a career-high 35 points. His steal and dunk tied the game at 61 with just less than two minutes to play.
However, the rest of the SDSU roster shot just 22.5% from the floor so they could never get fully over the hump. BYU finished the game on an 11-1 run to finish the upset.
The Aztecs fall to 5-1 on the year and have one more non-conference game, at home on Tuesday against Saint Mary's, before starting their Mountain West Conference championship defense on New Year's Eve at UNLV.
