Sports News Southwest

The Aztecs (3-0), who are receiving votes in each of the national polls, will be looking to open the season with a four consecutive wins for the second straight year and for just the fifth time in San Diego State’s history as a Division I institution. Only twice in SDSU’s 86 years of basketball have the Aztecs started consecutive seasons with a 4-0 record. The two occasions occurred in 1966-67 and 1967-68 and in 1930-31 and 1931-32. Following the Aztecs’ 3-0 weekend where they claimed the World Vision Classic in Fresno, Calif., after defeating Liberty, Portland and Fresno State all by double figures, San Diego State found itself with Pittsburgh, Stanford and Northern Iowa as the only 3-0 teams in the America.

 

After handing the Bulldogs its worst defeat at Save Mart Center and snapping a 12-game losing streak to Fresno State in Fresno, junior Kyle Spain was named most valuable player of the event with classmate Lorrenzo Wade earning all-tournament honors. Following a weekend where he tied his career high in points and led the team in scoring in two of the three games, Spain was named Mountain West Conference co-player of the week.

 

The tournament championship was the Aztecs’ second in as many seasons and after claiming the 2006 Shamrock Invitational hosted by Saint Mary’s. UC San Diego (0-0) makes the short trip south to play its first game of the season after playing two exhibition contests under first-year head coach Chris Carlson earlier this month. The Tritons finished their preseason schedule with a 1-1 record after stunning UC Riverside, an SDSU opponent this year, in Riverside, 67-61, and dropping a neutral-site exhibition to Drake, 81-63, at Saint Mary’s.

 

This year’s meeting marks the second straight season in which the two county schools will meet. Overall, the tilt is the ninth in the series with the Aztecs winning all eight previous match-ups, including six inside Cox Arena. The game vs. UC San Diego is the first of two straight against San Diego County universities. Two days after playing the Tritons, SDSU will travel west to face the University of San Diego at Jenny Craig Pavilion on Monday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. PT. The contest with the Toreros will be the first of a season-long three-game road trip that will also take the Aztecs to California and Loyola Marymount.