No. 24 San Diego State vs. USD

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Viejas Arena

On the air: YurView (streamed on Mountain West Network); 760-AM

Records: SDSU is 5-2, USD is 3-5

Series history: SDSU leads 32-19 and has won 12 of the last 14, including the most recent meeting, 66-49 at Jenny Craig Pavilion in 2019. USD won the last game at Viejas Arena, 73-61 in 2018.

Aztecs update: They will wear red uniforms, a bold move given the Aztecs’ inauspicious history wearing them. But this team is rolling despite the uncertainty of youth, beating then-No. 6 Houston last week in the Players Era Festival and following that with an 84-62 rout at Fresno State in their Mountain West opener. They have climbed to 37 in the Kenpom metric and 36 in the NCAA’s NET after opening at 60 in the latter when it was unveiled Monday (and falling to 62 a day later). That’s because of the lopsided win against Fresno State, as well as Creighton beating No. 1 Kansas and the continued success of UCSD, two SDSU wins from earlier in the season. USD transfer Wayne McKinney III is the first man since current Saint Augustine High School coach Mike Haupt in the mid-1980s to play for both the Aztecs and Toreros, although Haupt went in the opposite direction. The Aztecs have seven players averaging between 6.4 and 13.7 points per game, and seven between 3.0 and 5.5 rebounds per game. Their nonconference strength of schedule ranks second nationally in several metrics. Kenpom projects a 79-56 final score Saturday, with the Aztecs having a 98% chance of victory. Brian Dutcher is 15-6 against USD as an assistant or head coach.

Toreros update: They slipped to 299 in Kenpom and 330 in NET after a 90-53 shellacking at Arizona State on Tuesday. The other losses are against Rider, Portland State, Idaho and Southern Utah, all at home. The Division I wins have come against Boston University (286 in NET) and Idaho (274). They also escaped an embarrassing home loss against Division III Marian University (Wis.), trailing by seven points at the half before prevailing 69-64. They are shooting 24.2% on 3s, which ranks 354th nationally. In Year 3 at USD, coach Steve Lavin has a roster of (yes) 21 players, with 14 underclassmen and nine newcomers. The top returnee is 6-foot-10 senior Steven Jamerson II (8.3 points, 8.1 rebounds per game last season). The leading scorer is San Diego City College transfer Kjay Bradley Jr. (16.3 points per game). Kody Clouet, a San Marcos High School alum who started his college career and since-disbanded Saint Katherine University, averages 9.0 points per game, as does 6-10 Argentine forward Santiago Trouet. The roster also includes Carlsbad High School alum Tony Duckett and Cathedral Catholic High School grad Dominic Muncey. Who will start? Good question. Lavin is notorious for switching lineups game to game. Eleven different players have starts this season, and no one has started all eight games.

Next up: Wednesday vs. Cal Baptist (7 p.m., YurView)

— MARK ZEIGLER

Originally Published: December 6, 2024 at 7:07 PM PST