Arizona's Hard-Fought Win vs. SDSU Adds to CBB's Most Underrated Rivalry

In what was arguably the best game of the 2014-15 college basketball season to date, No. 3 Arizona survived against nonconference rival No. 15 San Diego State to win the Maui Invitational by a score of 61-59.

Nobody deserved to lose this game.

Neither team led by more than six points. Moreover, there was a stretch of 12 minutes and 13 seconds in the middle of the second half during which neither team led by more than two points.

It may have been a low-scoring affair, but make no mistake about it: This was a back-and-forth slugfest between two heavyweights.

Per usual.

Ask most college basketball fans what they consider to be the best rivalry in the country and you're going to hear Duke vs. North Carolina, Kentucky vs. Louisville, Indiana vs. Purdue and maybe a smattering of people saying the Philadelphia Big 5.

However, you'd be hard-pressed to find two teams—particularly teams from different conferences—who have consistently delivered better games over the past few years than Arizona and San Diego State.

Take a look at what this rivalry has produced over the past decade.

Date	Location	Result
December 9, 2006	at San Diego State	Arizona 69-48
December 22, 2007	at Arizona	Arizona 74-58
December 10, 2008	at Arizona	Arizona 69-56
December 12, 2009	at San Diego State	SDSU 63-46
November 23, 2011	at Arizona	SDSU 61-57
December 25, 2012	Honolulu (Diamond Head Classic final)	Arizona 68-67
November 14, 2013	at San Diego State	Arizona 69-60
March 27, 2014	Anaheim (Sweet 16)	Arizona 70-64
November 26, 2014	Maui (Maui Invitational final)	Arizona 61-59

What makes this rivalry so great is that these teams are practically cut from the same cloth.

Now that head coach Sean Miller's system is fully in place at Arizona, these are two of the most efficient, menacing defenses in the country. Both are great at limiting offensive rebounds and blocking shots—Arizona is a bit better at crashing the defensive glass, but San Diego State is a bit better at rejecting shots before they get to the glass.

According to KenPom.com (subscription required), Arizona and San Diego State both ranked in the top 10 last season in defensive effective field-goal percentage.

On the other end of the court, they're both solid offensive rebounding teams that don't shoot three-pointers very often or very accurately.

When they square off, it's almost as if they're each playing against themselves in the mirror.

Arizona has won four straight games against San Diego State, but not one of those wins came easily.

Eugene Tanner/Associated Press

In fact, for a brief moment late in the first half, San Diego State was the one with a chance to open up a big lead. T.J. McConnell and Gabe York were both on the bench for Arizona with three fouls, and Malik Pope had just drained a high-arcing three-pointer to put the Aztecs ahead by a score of 29-24.

Rather than fold, Arizona took a proverbial punch in the mouth and got stronger. Backed into a corner, the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run fueled by four offensive rebounds, two steals and a nifty fast-break layup by super frosh Stanley Johnson.

Stan the Man was easily the MVP of the game. He finished the night with 18 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Most crucial of all, though, he went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, including 6-of-6 in the final four minutes.

(Aaron Gordon did a lot of great things for Arizona last season, but hitting clutch free throws was not one of them.)

Arizona won this battle, but the war is far from over. These are two of the best teams in the entire country, and they could both go a long way this season.

They don't have another game scheduled for this season, but here's hoping we see the next installment of this rivalry in the West Regional final in March.

It hasn't been easy for Arizona to get to 6-0, but the Wildcats have displayed a ton of mental toughness in the process.

This was the second consecutive night in which they were pushed to the limit by a quality team. Yesterday, Kansas State was incessantly within one shot of either taking the lead or really making things interesting, but Arizona prevailed to reach the Maui Invitational championship.

One week ago, Arizona surprisingly found itself in a dogfight with UC Irvine. In that one, the Wildcats were trailing with eight minutes remaining before going on a tear to win by 17 points.

Maybe there's cause for concern that one of the (supposed) three best teams in the country is struggling to display its dominance, but maybe this is a good thing for a team still looking to identify its go-to players in clutch situations now that Nick Johnson is gone.

Thus far, it's looking like Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are those guys.

Through six games, Hollis-Jefferson is averaging 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.

Not too shabby for someone who has been on the bench at the start of every game this season. Forget about Sixth Man of the Year. Hollis-Jefferson could make a serious case for the Wooden Award when all is said and done.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

We would be remiss, though, if we didn't pay some mind to San Diego State and head coach Steve Fisher.

Yes, the Aztecs were ranked to open the season, but we really didn't know what to make of them.

Not only did they lose leading scorer and top defender Xavier Thames, but they're also adjusting to life without Josh Davis' 7.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Those two led the team in minutes played and were the heart and soul of last year's team.

This San Diego State team is led by a tandem of freshmen point guards in Trey Kell and Kevin Zabo. Its top freshman (Malik Pope) is playing extremely limited minutes while continuing to recover from suffering two broken legs in high school. Another great freshman (Zylan Cheatham) still hasn't played a game while recovering from a broken foot.

Yet, Fisher's team is 5-1 with quality wins over Utah, BYU and Pittsburgh and could have been 6-0 with a win over Arizona with better free-throw shooting—the Aztecs were just 13-of-24 from the charity stripe on Wednesday night. Once they figure out who their best scorers are, they're going to be extremely difficult to beat.

Arizona and San Diego State couldn't both win the Maui Invitational, but they are both well on their way to winning their respective conferences for a second consecutive season.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.