The Horned Frogs lost their sixth game in row Wednesday night, falling to the San Diego State Aztecs 76-57.As is now a motif this season, the Frogs fell into an early offensive slump from which they could not recover, finishing the game with a weak shooting percentage of 34.
Head coach Neil Dougherty said Wednesday’s offensive struggles stemmed primarily from the team’s inability to convert turnovers (SDSU had 24) into points.
“If there’s any type of letdown, it was a mental one,” Dougherty said. “It’s hustling hard and not getting anything out of it.”
That problem was compounded by the Frogs’ inability to rebound the ball, as the Aztecs finished with a final rebounding margin of plus-21.
Dougherty said allowing teams to have too many second-chance points will almost always result in a loss.
“We have to make the boards our advantage, which we didn’t do tonight,” Dougherty said. “Making the boards a point of emphasis and forcing the other team into more turnovers translates into us getting to shoot the ball more. Tonight, we just didn’t get it done.”
The Aztecs adjusted to the Frogs weak post play, and their attack-the-hoop mentality rarely wavered, yielding 38 points in the paint.
SDSU head coach Steve Fisher said the team used the size of its forwards to its advantage.
“We had a little size on them,” Fisher said. “(Forward Marcus) Slaughter was pretty active in and around the basket, and we were able to get some second chance opportunities.”
Slaughter had a double-double before the first half was over but left his mark on the game with two monstrous put-back dunks that epitomized the Frogs’ weak paint play.
Slaughter, who finished the night with 23 points and 18 rebounds, said he attributes his success to the ability of the rest of his team to make plays.
“Height-wise we had an advantage on them,” Slaughter said. “Our guards did a good job of driving and