It's Show and Tell time for San Diego State and New Mexico in Men's Hoops
New Mexico’s Deyton Albury (1) and San Diego State’s Reese Dixon-Waters (39) square off on Saturday, January 17th, at Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA. Graphic: The Pit Press/Erik Moulton
The Show mustn’t always go on.
At least where the University of New Mexico men's basketball team is concerned.
Yes, the Lobos and San Diego State Aztecs will face each other at least one more time as Mountain West foes. But Saturday is the last time at Viejas Arena -- where the boisterous home crowd is known as "The Show."
And the stakes couldn't be much higher for mid-January, as the perennial league big boys have yet another huge clash.
This is the final MW campaign for the Aztecs (12-4, 6-0), who head to the newly formed Pac-12 next season but are contending for this league title as usual.
As are the Lobos (14-3, 5-1), who have to be considered the MW's most pleasant surprise this year.
SDSU shares the conference lead with 23rd-ranked Utah State (15-1, 6-0) while UNM is a game back.
The 2025-26 edition of the Lobos – with all new players and an all new coaching staff – are coming off an 87-64 romp of Grand Canyon University (10-6, 3-2) on Tuesday in the Pit but have yet to experience "The Show."
Coach Eric Olen, who came to UNM after a highly successful stint as University of California-San Diego head coach, knows quite well about SDSU coach Brian Dutcher and the Aztecs.
“We’re excited to play a really good basketball team,” Olen said. "They’re undefeated in the conference. They’re ahead of us. It’s a Quad 1 opportunity. They’re a fantastic program. (We) have a ton of respect for coach Dutcher and that staff.
"We could play them anywhere and I think everybody would be excited about that opportunity.”
Which has been the case for most of the past two decades.
The Aztecs are a deep bunch, led by MW Preseason Player of the Year Miles Byrd (6-foot-6 junior), Preseason Freshman of the Year Elzie Harrington (6-5 guard) and junior guard BJ Davis.
They like to run the floor but are also foul-prone and struggle shooting the 3.
San Diego State is long and lanky and can really lock down defensively.
Wyoming found that out in a big way on Wednesday. The Cowboys entered Wednesday’s game with the Aztecs in Laramie, Wyo., averaging more than 90 points a game at home.
SDSU left Laramie with a 74-57 romp for its sixth straight win.
“We played pretty well at both ends of the floor,” Dutcher said. “We shot 50% and held them to 24% in the first half, 31% for the game. It's a really good effort against a team that was 9-1 at home, scoring 90 points a game in here, and we held them to 57."
The Aztecs got 13 points from senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters and 12 points from Byrd before he exited late in the game with an apparent thumb injury.
Byrd is averaging 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and nearly two steals a game while Dixon-Waters, a 6-5 senior guard, is scoring 11.2 points a game.
Magoon Gwath, a 7-foot sophomore forward, is averaging 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds a game, and 6-9 junior Miles Heide leads the team with 5.4 rebounds a game. Harrington averages 8.2 points a game and is shooting 49.5% from the floor.
Davis leads SDSU in scoring (11.8 points per game) but has scored just a combined 10 points in the last two outings.
Both the Lobos and Aztecs have both had problems with struggling Boise State (9-8, 1-5). The Lobos' only league loss was the Broncos' lone league win (62-53 at Boise), and San Diego State needed three overtimes on its homecourt to defeat BSU 110-107.
The Broncos rallied from a 50-29 halftime deficit in the latter.
Two of San Diego State's four losses have come against national powers, but both were blowouts: vs. Michigan (94-54) and at Arizona (68-45). The other two setbacks were against solid Troy (12-6) and Baylor (11-5) squads.
Whether the Lobos can be Show-stoppers on Saturday, they -- and their own home maniacs -- get at least one more chance to send the Aztecs to the Pac-12 with a beating.
The two MW big boys have a rematch in The Pit on Feb. 28.
