So much of basketball is avoiding playing ruts and minimizing those periods where your team plays flat or just “doesn’t have it.” These lulls can occur within games or across segments of the schedule. The Utah State Aggies find themselves in one of these traps, dropping two conference games back-to-back while underperforming from their season averages on both ends of the court. 

And as discussed in previous round-ups, the Mountain West is too competitive to expect to win if you’re not playing your best basketball. Especially with teams like Grand Canyon finding their identity and challenging the top of the league. They defeated San Diego State on Wednesday night, further dragging the conference leaders closer to the field for what should be a chaotic end to the season.

Here are the big trends that highlight just how unpredictable the last seasons of these two conferences, as we know them, might be.

The Broncos prove to be better than “the rest” 

For the better part of a decade, the WCC has been a league with two top teams, a tier below them, and two other consistent teams that could pose a threat if the better teams don't show up that night. It’s been a power imbalance and what better time for things to get shaken up than the finale of this iteration of WCC hoops?

Herb Sendek’s Santa Clara Broncos took down the two-time regular-season defending champions, Saint Mary’s, last Saturday, winning at home 62-54. The game highlighted just how dangerous the Broncos can be, not just relying on their league-best 57.2% effective field goal percentage on offense, but also leveraging their high-pressure on-ball defense. The Gaels lost the turnover battle 13-10, with point guard Joshua Dent and leading scorer Paulius Maurauskus each committing 4 turnovers.

Santa Clara’s 21% turnover rate on defense is the 20th-highest in the country, the highest ranking Santa Clara has held under Sendek and the highest since his early days at NC State. The Broncos are a difficult matchup when they’re playing well because of how adaptable and switchable their rotation can be. They run four wing/frontcourt players who all can guard multiple positions and do a variety of things on offense.

The athleticism, paired with their size, makes it a difficult matchup for Saint Mary’s and their group, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Frontcourt platoon Bukky Oboye and Allen Graves are a frustrating foil to the Gaels’ tandem of Andrew McKeever and Harry Wessels. The bigs for Saint Mary’s are at their best, lording over the interior, waiting at the rim, but Graves and Oboye really stretch defenses with their speed and initial actions around the perimeter.

And if that matchup wasn’t enough to tilt the Gaels away from what they’re comfortable with, the shotmaking and execution by Santa Clara guard Christian Hammond showcased a stark contrast in offensive dependability between the two backcourts. In crunch time, the Broncos hunted offensive looks that ended with Hammond being defended by Dent. Hammond ended with 25 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists with 9 made free throws on 10 attempts.

Santa Clara now resides second in the WCC standings with the win and further cements its standing if it takes care of business this weekend on the road at San Diego and then at home on Wednesday against San Francisco.

Zags adapting to injuries to two stars

Even when the Bulldogs go through a stretch of lackluster opponents, they find a way to make things interesting for themselves. It was announced leading up to last week’s road game against Washington State that leading scorer Braden Huff suffered a knee injury during practice and would be held out for 4 to 8 weeks, depending on how his knee responds to treatment.

The wide variance in return time makes this situation more complicated, as his earliest return could be for ramp-ups to the WCC tournament or for the NCAA tournament. But because of when this injury occurred, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the junior big man to be shut down for the season so he can be at his best for his senior season.

Gonzaga is one of the few programs that could withstand the loss of Huff’s magnitude and avoid a wholly altered season without one of their best players, thanks to All-American candidate Graham Ike. Well, that was at least the case until towards the closing of Gonzaga’s win in Pullman, where Ike tweaked his foot and has since missed the last two games out of an abundance of caution.

Ike is considered day-to-day and could suit up for Gonzaga’s matchup against San Francisco on Saturday, but it seems like the main goal is to have him available for the following game, a week later, against Saint Mary’s.

Without Huff and Ike, the Zags undoubtedly look and play considerably differently than the post-heavy approach they thrive on with those two available. Getting guys downhill and coming off screens has been a priority for their revamped offense and has made things notably easier for players like freshmen Mario Saint-Supery and Davis Fogle.

In the two games without Ike and Huff, Saint-Supery has averaged 16 points and 2.5 assists and Fogle has chipped in 15 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest coming off the bench. Getting more touches and freeing them up to hunt their shot can only help this team down the road, with or without their injured stars.

San Diego State finds itself in first (for now)

Albeit with the mood a bit dampened by their final possession loss to Grand Canyon on Wednesday night, the Aztecs still find themselves sitting in first place of the Mountain West standings. San Diego State survived those aforementioned ruts early on in the season to work themselves back into the hellacious defense-first team they’ve been known for throughout their program’s modern run.

San Diego State has brought back the stifling nature of its defense, leading the conference in opposing shooting percentages, defensive rebounding rate, and block rate to boot. San Diego State turned Grand Canyon over 17 times in their 1-point loss, which the Antelopes survived thanks to their 10-for-21 shooting from deep and a questionable final foul call.

Brian Dutcher’s team is still playing 11 guys in rotation (though they are missing Magoon Gwath with a hip injury), which helps fuel their relentlessness on defense. As the season has gone on, San Diego State has begun leaning more and more on freshmen Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons, who both have taken on more and more responsibilities over the last handful of weeks.

The Aztecs will still need to carry the regular-season title virtually into the conference tournament to feel safe or in good standing with the selection committee. Next week’s games against Colorado State and Utah State will go a long way to deciding where the Mountain West’s race for bids sits.

Games to watch

  • Utah State at Colorado State, Friday, 7 pm PT/10 pm ET, FS1
  • Seattle at Pacific, Saturday, 4 pm PT/7 pm ET, ESPN+
  • Nevada at New Mexico, Saturday, 5 pm PT/8 pm ET, FS1
  • San Francisco at Gonzaga, Saturday, 5 pm PT/8 pm ET, CBSSN