San Diego State vs. San Jose State

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Provident Credit Union Event Center, San Jose

On the air: CBS Sports Network; 760-AM

Records: SDSU is 7-4, 1-0; SJSU is 5-7, 0-1

Series history: SDSU leads the all-time series 51-35 and is 21-1 in the Mountain West era. Both games last year involved big San Jose State leads before Aztecs comeback wins, 71-68 at Viejas Arena and 69-66 in San Jose.

Aztecs update: This is their final game against the Spartans for the foreseeable future. It is the only regular-season meeting in the Mountain West’s unbalanced schedule (they don’t play at Viejas Arena) before SDSU leaves for the Pac-12 and San Jose State stays behind. Coach Brian Dutcher has never lost to the Spartans. The only Mountain West defeat came at San Jose State in Steve Fisher’s final season as head coach. In the space of 40 hours, the Aztecs went from scoring 45 points in a 23-point loss against No. 1-ranked Arizona to scoring a Viejas record 121 points in a 62-point win against Division III Whittier. They now rank third nationally in average bench points at 43.0 after scoring 40 or more in six of the past seven games. Since 2009-10, SDSU has the best Mountain West road record (89-55, .618) by a wide margin. Next best is Boise State at 60-64 (.484). After its defensive efficiency slipped below its offensive efficiency for the first time in years, SDSU is back to statistically being better on defense (44) than offense (70) in the Kenpom metric. Four of its five best defensive performances have come in the last five games. It ranks 16th nationally in block rate and 32nd in turnover rate. Kenpom projects a 77-68 Aztecs road victory.

Spartans update: They are 194 in Kenpom and 236 in the NET. They are 5-0 against teams with a worse Kenpom ranking and 0-7 against teams with better. Only one of the losses has been close: 86-82 against Stanford at home on Dec. 13. That was followed a week later by an 88-65 rout at New Mexico in the conference opener. Coach Tim Miles lost much of his roster (again) to expired eligibility or the transfer portal, including guard Latrell Davis to SDSU (where he is redshirting this season). But, as he’s consistently done, he uncovered new talent. Colby Garland, a 6-0 transfer from Longwood, is second in the Mountain West in scoring (19.6 points) while shooting 43.8% on 3s. Yaphet Moundi, a 6-8 French forward from Iona, is averaging 13.0 points and 8.1 rebounds. Returnees Jermaine Washington (10.8) and Ben Roseborough (10.6) are also averaging double figures. The Spartans play at one of the nation’s slowest tempos, averaging 19.2 seconds per possession (350th in Div. I). The game represents a contrast in styles, with SDSU ranked eighth (45.2%) in bench minutes and the Spartans at 345th (22.9%). Crowds for Spartans home games are usually sparse, although SDSU has typically brought a strong contingent of fans.

Next up: Saturday vs. Boise State (7 p.m., CBSSN)

–MARK ZEIGLER

 

Â