SDSU vs. UCSD
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Viejas Arena
On the air: YurView (Channel 4 on Cox and Spectrum) and streamed on Mountain West Network; 760-AM
Series history: SDSU leads 14-0, but only the last three have come since UCSD began the transition to Division I: 78-57 and 62-46 at Viejas Arena and 63-62 last year at LionTree Arena.
Tritons update: They are full-fledged members of Division I, finally, after an exhaustive four-year transition in which they were ineligible for the Big West and NCAA tournaments. They were picked ninth in the Big West and finished second at 15-5 (21-11 overall). Eric Olen was the conference’s coach of the year, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (13.8 points) the newcomer of the year and Tyler McGhie (13.9 points) the sixth man of the year. Also back is starting point guard Hayden Gray, who had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in last year’s game against SDSU. They are joined by seven newcomers, most notably Torrey Pines High School alum Chris Howell from Saint Mary’s. The roster has five Division II transfers and four foreigners (from Austria, Argentina, New Zealand and Serbia). The most notable departures were all-conference guard and leading scorer (18.3 points per game) Bryce Pope to USC and forward Francis Nwaokorie to Loyola Chicago. Still, Big West coaches picked the Tritons to finish third this season behind UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.
Aztecs update: They have won 17 straight openers against unranked opposition, two coming against UCSD. The last unranked team to beat them in an opener was UC Santa Barbara in 2004. Overall, they have won 11 straight openers since losing to No. 9 Syracuse on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum. Preseason all-conference guard Reese Waters remains sidelined with a stress fracture in his foot, but everyone else is healthy and available. Coach Brian Dutcher started Nick Boyd, BJ Davis, Miles Byrd, Magoon Gwath and Jared Coleman-Jones in the 80-39 exhibition win against Division II Cal State San Marcos. The game could be determined on the boards against the smaller, less athletic Tritons, particularly the offensive boards. Another key will be defending the 3-point line against UCSD’s five-out offense. Said Dutcher: “If you run into a night where they’re making a lot of 3s, it could be a long night.” SDSU announced that four nonconference home games will be aired locally by YurView, including Dec. 7 against USD and Dec. 11 against Cal Baptist.
Next up: Nov. 12 vs. Division III Occidental at Viejas Arena (7 p.m., YurView)