Aztecs upset No. 6 Houston 73-70 in OT; finish 3rd in Players Era Festival
SDSU Basketball
The Aztecs take down their second ranked opponent this week to win third place in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas
The San Diego State Aztecs and No. 6 Houston Cougars met at MGM Garden for a highly anticipated game. After a rough start offensively for both teams, they both found ways to score in the second half. SDSU earned a massive win to end the opening month of the season.
Houston and SDSU showcased their physicality on the defensive end early in this contest. Brian Dutcher and Kelvin Sampson’s squads show similarities in their defensive schemes. They defend hard, do not allow many clean shots, and focus on running in transition. SDSU led 6-2 heading into U16 timeout as the Cougars did not see a clean look.
Houston turned it over four times in the first seven minutes, and Sampson proceeded to call a timeout after Wayne McKinney III’s put-back lay-in on the fast break. SDSU led 10-5 as the Cougars struggled to score.
After each Houston turnover, you could see the Aztecs’ coaching staff all signaling to run in transition. Players benefit from seeing the coaches and bench show emotion.
SDSU led for a few more minutes, and then, all of a sudden, Houston’s Emanuel Sharp flipped a switch and went on a 10-0 run on his own. The Cougars’ run hit 13 to give them an eight-point lead.
The game did not get out of control, but the Aztecs needed to find a way to attack this Houston defense. Senior Jared Coleman-Jones stepped up when his team needed scoring. The big man nailed two triples to keep the team within five points at the half.
The big man buries the trey!
📺: TNT pic.twitter.com/EGjxdahTHz— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) December 1, 2024
Pharaoh Compton was active in the first half. He finished the half with eight points on 4-8 shooting but also finished 0-3 from the line. His teammates fed him in the paint, and he slammed it home a few times to get his teammates fired up.
.@PharaohCompton with another dunk!
📺: TNT pic.twitter.com/Eads2CwAEE— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) December 1, 2024
The Cougars led 30-25 at the half. SDSU stayed composed and did not allow the game to get out of hand. The Aztecs only turned the ball over two times, which was a good sign facing this aggressive Houston defense.
An extremely competitive second half awaited.
Sharp and the Cougars hit shots early in the second half to extend their lead to 11 points — their largest of the game. That lead would not last long at all.
Miles Byrd and Coleman-Jones hit threes to keep the Aztecs in it. Then, the Red and Black would trim the lead down to four with roughly nine minutes to play in the contest. Boyd stole the pass and laid it in on the other end. He then followed up the lay-in with back-to-back deep threes to cut the lead to two, 54-52.
The 11-point Houston lead vanished. Sampson had enough and called a timeout with 6:47 remaining in the contest.
After a great play-call to get J’wan Roberts a lay-in, BJ Davis trimmed the lead to just one with his only basket of the game, a three-pointer.
Sharp did not want to see his team blow the lead. Sharp responded the Davis triple with one of his own. He then hit yet another three for his fourth of the game. Sharp reached 23 points with just under four minutes remaining. His team could not score early in the game then he put the team on his back to keep them up … for now.
With just under a minute remaining, JCJ hit a fadeaway shot that looked like a three-pointer initially. However, his foot was inside the line to count as a two. The Aztecs then trailed by two and needed a stop to get back even. On the other end, JCJ was hit with a loose-ball foul to put Roberts at the line to extend the lead. Roberts proceeded to miss the free throw, and the Aztecs had a shot to tie or win the game with 19.7 seconds left.
Dutcher went to Davis out of the timeout and he missed the open look. It was a great call to give them a shot to take the lead. Byrd would grab the board and was fouled. He nailed both free throws to tie the game.
Sharp missed the potential game-winner, and the game was headed to overtime. Houston also played an overtime game against Alabama in their first game of the tournament.
Dutcher played his starters for the entire overtime period. Davis hit crucial free throws, Miles Byrd did Miles Byrd things, and the Aztecs showed up late. They contained a 3-point lead with the ball with 50 seconds remaining.
.@_mbyrd21 was cooking on this one ‼️🤯🤯
📺: TNT pic.twitter.com/si1SdcmkGe— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) December 1, 2024
Boyd extended the lead to five, and then LJ Cryer hit a clutch triple to bring the score to within two. Gwath drew a foul and went 1-2 from the line.
Houston called their final timeout with seven seconds remaining to try and tie the game.
It’s understood if you were biting your nails.
Cryer missed the triple at the buzzer, and the Aztecs won. The Aztecs had an option to foul late but decided against it.
This win against the six-ranked team in the country will follow them all the way until Selection Sunday.
The Aztecs will now take on Fresno State on the road for a early conference contest. That game is Wednesday, December 4, at 7:30 PM PT.
- Byrd led the team with 18 points and also had 6 rebounds & 3 assists
- JCJ finished with 16 points & grabbed 5 boards
- Boyd had 12 with 7 rebounds & 6 assists
- Davis had 5 steals & 5 points
- Gwath blocked 5 shots & had 6 points
- Compton had 13 off the bench
- SDSU committed only 7 turnovers & forced 12
- SDSU had a 26-18 advantage in the paint
- 15-12 advantage on second-chance points
- Limited Houston to zero fast-break points
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.