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Oregon vs. SDSU
When: 1 p.m. Wednesday
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
On the air: Streaming on Max; 760 AM
Series history: Tied 3-3. SDSU won the most recent meeting, 80-68 at Viejas Arena in 1997.
Ducks update: They are 6-0 after coming from 10 down and scoring the game’s final 11 points in an 80-70 win against No. 20-ranked Texas A&M in the game immediately following SDSU-Creighton. They had four players score in double figures, led by Villanova transfer TJ Bamba with 18 (10 of 12 at the line). Torrey Pines High School alum Brandon Angel, a transfer from Stanford who considered SDSU, had 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Coach Dana Altman had 7-footer Nate Bittle and 6-foot-9 Kwame Evans (the cousin of former SDSU player Che Evans Jr.) returning, then added pieces around them from the portal. Bamba and Angel are two of seven transfers. The other wins are less impressive: UC Riverside, Montana, Portland, Troy and Oregon State. Oregon will test the Aztecs defensively with pressure on the wings and a matchup zone that flummoxed their younger players when they faced one in the opener against UCSD. Texas A&M missed its final 11 shots and 17 of its last 19. The Ducks are No. 28 in the Kenpom metric and projected to win by two against SDSU.
Aztecs update: The convincing 71-53 win against No. 21-ranked Creighton moved up the Aztecs 15 spots in Kenpom to 40th. That’s second best in the Mountain West behind Nevada at 34. In defensive efficiency, after holding the Bluejays to 33.9% shooting, they’re up to No. 5. They’re No. 1 nationally in block rate after averaging 8.5 rejections per game. The season’s great revelation has been sophomore guard BJ Davis, who is averaging a team-high 15.0 points per game while shooting 62.2%. “I just saw where I had advantages in certain places and I took them,” Davis said after shooting 7 of 11 for a career-high 18 points Tuesday. “I tried to hunt my shot and stay ready.” He’s also averaging 4.5 rebounds per game and has seven steals in four games. No one on the roster is averaging more than 5.0 rebounds per game, but six players are at 3.8 for higher. In four previous nonconference events in Las Vegas, the Aztecs are 7-1 and have won the title three times.
Next up: Saturday vs. No. 6 Houston, No. 9 Alabama, Rutgers or Notre Dame.
–MARK ZEIGLER
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