SAN DIEGO -- College basketball is more a guard's game than the NBA's hulking version of basketball.So how is it that San Diego State owns the nation's longest active winning streak, despite lacking star talent in its backcourt?
The fast feet, long arms and big hands of SDSU's taller players, notably NBA prospect Kawhi Leonard, are great enablers.
Take Wednesday's hard-earned 55-49 victory over UNLV in a rugged Mountain West Conference game that left No. 6 SDSU (18-0, 3-0) as one of four unbeatens, on a night when No. 1 Duke lost.
UNLV's guards, who are unusually fast and physical, outplayed their Aztecs counterparts.
But SDSU's big men do not need their guards to fare well to get things done, because athletically, the taller Aztecs are guards in big bodies.
Forwards Leonard and Billy White, along with 6-foot-10 center Malcolm Thomas, generated offense by snatching rebounds and launching fast breaks. Or passing to one another from either afar or near. Or out-sprinting the Rebels to loose balls. Or driving to the rim.
Leonard and Thomas amassed 33 rebounds, 29 points and six assists. White sank two three-pointers in the second half, which doubled UNLV's paltry game total.
One more stat: the board work of Leonard (17) and Thomas (16) marked the first time in 90 years of SDSU basketball that two players had 15-plus rebounds in the same game. Heck, the duo exceeded UNLV's total of 31 rebounds.
"They're very good rebounders, very long, very aggressive," said UNLV coach Lon Kruger.
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