Credit: Don De Mars/EVT Sports
Steve Fisher Court – Viejas Arena – San Diego State University
Tuesday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m.
TV/Stream: Mountain West Network
The San Diego State Aztecs’ run to Mountain West glory begins with a highly competitive battle against Chris Acker and Long Beach State
In what will be the final season competing in the Mountain West before debuting in the Pac-12, the Aztecs are unanimous preseason favorites to go out on top and win the conference.
Some of the key players on head coach Brian Dutcher’s squad are also getting recognition. Miles Byrd is the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, while Elzie Harrington takes the honor as Preseason Freshman of the Year. Magoon Gwath and Reese Dizon-Waters join Byrd on the Preseason All-MW Team. This roster is loaded, and the conference is aware of it. Now it’s time for them to go out and prove that they are the team to beat.
The Aztecs’ exhibition games against UCLA and USD are in the rearview mirror. SDSU saw a lot of great things from those two contests, losing by seven points to the No. 12-ranked team in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll and a blowout win against the Toreros. This highly anticipated team looks ready to get the gears in motion against another familiar opponent on Tuesday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Viejas Arena.
Credit: Don De Mars/EVT Sports
Getting To Know The Beach
Long Beach State went through another rebuild after the 2024-25 season that saw them finish 7-25. Former Aztecs assistant coach Chris Acker is entering Year 2 with his new program. He brought back just one player (Derrick Michael Xzavierro) and has 13 newcomers, including former Aztec Shay Johnson Jr. The 6-foot-10 senior transfer will aim to be a big part of Long Beach State with one of his former coaches and recruiters.
Acker (known for his advanced recruiting) and his coaching staff utilized the transfer portal to fill the rest of the roster. Long Beach added Petar Majstorovic from Syracuse, Shaquil Bender from Manhattan, Rob Diaz III from Cal Poly Humboldt, JJ Chaikovski from CSUN, Cole Farrell from Portland State, and brothers Immanuel and Isaiah Lewis from Nobel and Little Rock.
A projected starting lineup for The Beach against SDSU could be guards Shaquil Bender, Isaiah Lewis, and Christian Jones, with forwards Derrick Michael Xzavierro and Petar Majstorovic. However, 6-foot-10 freshman Dallas Washington and guard Gavin Sykes are expected to have big roles this season.
San Diego State leads the all-time series 40-22. SDSU has won five straight against Long Beach, with the longest streak reaching as high as eight in a row.
This 2025-26 LB squad is projected to finish 8th in the Big West this season.
Who To Watch Out For: Derrick Michael Xzavierro
Derrick Michael Xzavierro is a junior from Indonesia. He started 21 of 29 games for LB last season after playing for Grand Canyon University, which is debuting in the Mountain West Monday night against Purdue Fort Wayne.
Xzavierro could be a double-double machine for Long Beach State this season. He finished with four last season and will return as one of the starting big men this year. He has the experience playing in the Big West and ranked in the Top 5 of the conference in rebounding a season ago. “DMX” averaged 7.1 rebounds per game in conference play while averaging 6.3 points.
Xzavierro is not going to score the rock a ton, but he will be all over the place in other areas of the game. He is a strong defender with a rim presence. DMX blocked 36 shots last year for The Beach and should lead the team in rebounding and blocked shots once again this season.
Derrick Michael Xzavierro ERASES this shot and then TJ Wainwright with the tough finish! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/k0TdZDNZYF
— Long Beach State Men’s Basketball (@LBSUMBB) January 3, 2025
Key To Victory: Pressure, Pressure, & more Pressure
The Aztecs are going to be large favorites in this game. They need to start the season off with a dominant win. The shots are going to fall, and the points will come. However, the Aztecs won’t be happy with a close win against Long Beach State; they need a big win to put the nation on notice.
This Aztecs squad is going to thrive on the defensive end. Opponents will struggle to find open looks, and almost every shot that the Aztecs allow will be contested closely. The pressure that the Aztecs can bring with their size, strength, and athleticism will be what opponents talk about after losses to San Diego State.
If the Aztecs pressure Long Beach State to the best of their ability, then they will force a ton of turnovers and see a lot of transition points.
Coach Dutcher really loved the pressure he saw against USD.
“I thought our ball screens, coverages, where we sent the ball defensively, and sometimes the stats don’t tell the story. Our press and our pressure were really good, yet we had 14 turnovers and they had 11. So, we didn’t cause a lot of turnovers, but I thought the way we played and the pressure we put on early affected their rhythm offensively. We impacted how they played to a large degree.”
San Diego State wants to disrupt opponents’ flow offensively. Miles Byrd, BJ Davis, Reese Dixon-Waters, Taj DeGourville, Jeremiah Oden, Elzie Harrington, and Sean Newman Jr. have the length and defensive ability to all average over 1.0 steals per game this season.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.
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