3 thoughts: Arizona 61, SDSU 59

Three thoughts from San Diego State’s 61-59 loss to No. 3 Arizona on Wednesday in the final of the Maui Invitational:

1. The bright side: Once the sting from another close loss to Arizona dissipates, fans will, or at least should, realize that the trip to the islands went pretty darn well. A week ago, remember, this team shot 24.6 percent against one of the worst teams in Division I and had major questions about its readiness against elite competition.

Instead, the Aztecs emerged with a pair of quality wins against rival BYU and ACC member Pitt that will look nice on the resume come March. Lost in the disappointment of the Arizona loss was what happened immediately before it: Pitt taking out Kansas State 70-47, a result that indirectly boosts SDSU’s RPI and bodes well for Pitt’s prospects in the rest of the season.

And consider what happened to BYU. That could have been the Aztecs.

BYU leaves Maui with a single win, impressive as it was, against Div. II Chaminade and two overtime losses that easily could have been wins but, alas, are Ls nonetheless. Imagine if Aqeel Quinn doesn’t make the step-back 3-pointer in overtime after his first 3 was blocked, or if, as some have suggested, the referees whistled him for travelling.

“I watched BYU’s game today,” Fisher said Wednesday of the Cougars’ 87-85 overtime loss to Purdue. “(Wife) Angie and I talked, and I said: ‘One play and that could have been us. One play and they could have been playing in the championship.’ So there’s that razor’s edge.”

Fisher held his fingers a half-inch apart.

“The difference between winning and losing is this much … and it was proven here in a lot of the games. We could have been playing for (fifth) place.”

2. Free throws: It’s an easy supposition. SDSU made just 13 of 24 free throws (54.2 percent) Wednesday, and it cost them the game.

But it’s not that easy. Free throw percentages can be among the most over-rated statistics in basketball, with such a small sample size often skewing its perceived impact on the outcome. (BYU made 75 percent of its free throws in Maui and didn’t get a Div. I win.)

Let’s do the math. Say the Aztecs shot the national average from the line, about 68 percent, against Arizona. They would have made 16 of 24 free throws instead, or three more. And yes, they lost by two points.

The final margin was that close, though, only because Trey Kell somehow made a fallaway 3-pointer with 17 seconds left while 6-foot-9 Brandon Ashley crashed into him (and then converted the free throw for a four-point play), and Winston Shepard made a desperation 3 with .9 seconds left off a full-court pass. That’s seven points that, let’s be honest, are fluky plays wrought from desperation.

If free throws indeed affected the game, it was more on Arizona’s end than SDSU’s. The Wildcats also went to the line 24 times and made 20 – four more than they would have had they shot their season average.

A bigger issue for Fisher is whether he can continue to play Skylar Spencer in crunch time given his problems at the line, despite all he provides defensively. The 6-10 junior is now 5 of 16 (31.3 percent) this season after going 3 of 10 in Maui and 42.3 percent for his career, giving opponents an easy out late in games. They can just foul him.

His free throw stroke – or it is a shot put? – is certainly awkward and the Aztecs coaches considered overhauling it in the offseason. But then he started making everything over the summer, so they left it alone.

3. Polee, Polee, Polee: The elephant in the room is that Dwayne Polee II has not made the kind of transition from sixth man to starter that many hoped or expected. He had a promising first half against Arizona in which he never came off the floor, with 10 points on 3 of 5 shooting from the floor and 3 of 3 from the line. Then the funk returned, attempting only one shot in 11 second-half minutes.

It’s still early and Fisher is a master motivator, but through six games Polee’s numbers look like this: 26.5 minutes, 9.5 points, 3.2 rebounds (sixth on the team), 32.7-percent shooting overall (worst among the regulars) and 6 of 25 behind the arc (24 percent). The one positive statistic is his 14 steals.

Compare that to his final six games of last season: 26.2 minutes, 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 51-percent shooting overall, 13 of 24 behind the arc (54.2 percent). He has nine turnovers in six games this season; he had three in the final six games last season.

It was unreasonable to expect him to continue making more than half his shots, especially from long range; perimeter players these days rarely do. But he seems out of sorts this season, and Fisher has already subbed him out in several crucial situations. Maybe Polee just needs time to acclimate, or maybe he’s just one of those players who is more productive off the bench.

The silver lining: SDSU is 5-1 with a two-point loss to the nation’s No. 3 team, and the guy some projected as the Mountain West player of the year hasn’t got going yet.