SDSU at New Mexico

When: 11 a.m. PST Saturday

Where: The Pit, Albuquerque, N.M.

On the air: CBS; 760-AM

Records: SDSU is 19-8, 13-4; New Mexico is 21-7, 12-5

Series history: SDSU leads 31-14, but the teams have split the last eight meetings, including an 83-79 Aztecs win on Jan. 17 at Viejas Arena. New Mexico has won the last two at The Pit by lopsided margins, 62-48 last year and 88-70 in 2024.

Aztecs update: They control their destiny with three games to go, tied with Utah State for first place. But ensuring at least a share of the title could require running the table, which means winning at The Pit on Saturday and at Boise State on Tuesday. The regular-season finale is March 6 against UNLV at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs currently would win the tiebreaker with Utah State and get the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, but that could change over the next week. A win would ensure they get the Nos. 1, 2 or 3 seed and a first-round bye. It is hard to tell exactly where they stand on the NCAA Tournament bubble, since most projections assign a league’s automatic bid to the current leader, which is SDSU. The Bracket Matrix, which tracks 100-plus projected brackets, has the Aztecs on only 39, up from four before Wednesday’s 89-72 win against Utah State. Any loss in the final three games likely would seal their fate. Their metrics have ticked up slightly, to 42 in Kenpom and 43 in the NET but a less ideal 53 in WAB and 54 in strength of record.

Lobos update: The Pit is sold out with a “stripe-out” theme planned for the CBS national telecast. There would have been a three-way tie at the top had they not lost 67-60 at Nevada on Saturday. The roster and coaching staff are littered with San Diego ties: coach Eric Olen from UCSD, leading scorer Jake Hall from Carlsbad High School, senior wing Luke Haupt from St. Augustine High School and Point Loma Nazarene University and Chris Howell from Torrey Pines High School and UCSD. Like Hall, fellow freshman guard Uriah Tenette was a UCSD commit before following Olen to New Mexico. The Lobos and No. 2-ranked Arizona are the only two teams in Division I with three freshmen averaging double figures per game: Hall at 16.0 points per game, 6-9 forward Tomislav Buljan at 11.7 and 5-10 guard Uriah Tenette at 10.6. That comes with an asterisk: Buljan, who had 20 points and 14 rebounds in the first meeting, is a 23-year-old Croatian pro given one year of collegiate eligibility, but New Mexico lists him as a “freshman.” The Lobos are 45 in both Kenpom and the NET, 51 in WAB and 53 in SOR. Kenpom projects a 75-72 Lobos win.

Next up: Tuesday at Boise State (6 p.m. PST, CBSSN)

–MARK ZEIGLER