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No. 16 San Diego State downs No. 25 Utah, 53-49, in offensive struggle

Utah v San Diego State

Getty Images

Getty Images

A layup from J.J. O’Brien with more than eight minutes remaining gave San Diego State a nine-point lead. A minute later, O’Brien assisted on Dwayne Poole II’s lone 3-point basket to once again extend the lead to nine at 37-26. In both instances, it seemed appropriate to label the game as a blowout based on how poorly Utah was performing offensively.

It wasn’t until the final minute of regulation for Utah’s star player, Delon Wright, to get his first points while a pair of desperation 3-pointers from Brandon Taylor and Jordan Loveridge made it a one-possession game, 49-46, with under 20 seconds to play.

Although, the late burst of offense was not enough to undo the offensive woes that plagued the Utes -- more so than the Aztecs’ offensive troubles -- in what turned out to be a 53-49 win for No. 16 San Diego State (2-0) over newly-ranked No. 25 Utah on Tuesday evening at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

Utah (1-1) shot a dismal 16-of-49 from the field (32 percent), and that percentage increased with the Utes hitting four of their last six shots. More troubling, Delon Wright, the all-Pac-12 first teamer and preseason All American candidate was 2-for-13 (0-for-5 from three) from the field, scored his first bucket with 40 seconds left, followed later by three free throws (his only of the day) after a rare defensive mishap on the part of San Diego State resulted in Skylar Spencer fouling Wright on a 3-point shot.

To Wright’s credit did grab eight rebounds, assisted on five of Utah’s 16 field goals and came away with three steals. San Diego State’s defense forced him into tough shots, and swarmed him anytime he had the ball in his hands. The defense for the Aztecs was suffocating, and it had to be because San Diego State’s offense wasn’t much better. We went over how bad Utah was on offense, and the Utes still had a puncher’s chance at the end.

San Diego State team shooting was almost identical to Utah’s at 16-of-49 shooting.

Xavier Thames and his 17.6 points per game are gone from last season’s Sweet 16 team. He left the Aztecs without a go-to scorer and without a guy Steve Fisher can give the ball to with the game in the balance. It’s going to take time for the Aztecs to find their rhythm offensively, and that was apparent on Tuesday. Poole and Winston Shepard III shot a combined 4-of-12 for 14 points. O’Brien (12 points and 11 rebounds) was the only player to reach double figures, although, two of his three field goals came from him operating on the weak-side of the floor with two offensive rebounds leading to four of his 12 points.

The bright side is San Diego State can hang its hat on its defense as it attempts to figure out a formula for offensive success.

San Diego State hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday. Utah returns home to take on UC Riverside on Friday night.

Follow @terrence_payne