SDSU at Colorado State
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colo.
On the air: CBS Sports Network; 760-AM
Records: SDSU is 18-7, 12-3; CSU is 16-10, 7-8
Series history: SDSU leads 54-45 and has won seven of the last nine, including 73-50 at Viejas Arena on Jan. 28. Colorado State has won three of the last four at Moby Arena, including 68-63 last season.
Aztecs update: They are 3-1 in altitude (above 4,500 feet) this season, but Moby Arena (5,023 feet) has historically been a tough place for them to win. Few teams are better coming off a loss than SDSU under Brian Dutcher. They are 52-11 in his nine seasons in the game immediately following a loss … but only 15-9 when it is on the road. They’re expected to get freshman guard Elzie Harrington back after missing six games with a lower leg injury. Miles Byrd broke out of a mini-slump with 18 points on 3 of 6 shooting beyond the arc in Tuesday’s 73-63 home loss to Grand Canyon. In the five games before that, he averaged 7.4 points and 2 of 17 from deep. The problem was, he got little help. No one else scored in double figures, with Reese Dixon-Waters, BJ Davis and Magoon Gwath combining for 15 points (6 of 27 shooting) and eight turnovers. There was a point earlier in the season when the Aztecs ranked higher in offensive than defensive efficiency. That has flipped: They’re now 16th in defense and have slipped to 105th in offense (eighth in the conference).
Rams update: They have won four straight, although none against the conference’s top five teams. That puts them in a tie for seventh place with Boise State and improved their Kenpom ranking to No. 91. Scoring remains their strength, ranking 51st in offensive efficiency (second best in the Mountain West behind Utah State) compared to 204th in defensive efficiency (ninth). They rank 10th nationally in 3-point accuracy at 39.4% but were 8 of 30 (26.7%) in the first meeting. They don’t take a lot of 2s, ranking near the bottom of Div. I in percentage of baskets inside the arc. And they don’t run much, either, averaging fewer possessions per game than all but one of Division I’s 365 teams. The Rams have three players averaging more than 10 points per game — Kyle Jorgensen (12.1), Brandon Rechsteiner (11.7) and Josh Pascarelli (10.8) —  but no one did in the Jan. 28 game. They are 10-4 at home, with the victims including Colorado, UNLV and Wyoming. Kenpom projects a close game, with SDSU favored to win 72-70 despite prevailing by 23 at Viejas Arena.
Next up: Wednesday vs. Utah State (8 p.m., Fox Sports 1)
–MARK ZEIGLER