Aztecs open Mountain West early with game at Fresno State – San Diego Union-Tribune

No. 24 SDSU at Fresno State

When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m

Where: Store Mart Center, Fresno

On air: Fox Sports 1; 760 p.m

Records: SDSU is 4-2, Fresno State is 3-4

Series history: SDSU leads 72-56 and has won six straight in Fresno, including 73-41 last season – the Bulldogs’ third-most home defeat since 1996-97.

Aztec update: This is the earliest conference opener in program history. They also played on December 4, 2019 to accommodate a Mountain West tournament that was held a week earlier than usual. Over the past 11 seasons, SDSU is the only Mountain West program with a record of 75-49 (.605) in conference road games. Nevada is next on the list at 67-70 (.489). Magoon Gwath already has 24 blocks in six games, ranking first in Division I with 4.0 per game. At that rate, he would score 120 points this season, breaking the school record of 91 points set by Skylar Spencer, the Mountain West career blocks leader. The SDSU freshman record, also held by Spencer, is 51. Amazingly, Gwath has not yet been named Mountain West Freshman of the Week. The other two freshmen on the roster, Pharaoh Compton and Taj DeGourville, both did. Ranked No. 24 in this week’s Associated Press poll, the Aztecs took 28 of the 60 media ballots. The highest was 13th by Mark Berman of the Roanoke (Va.) Times. The Aztecs fell two spots to No. 62 in the NCAA’s NET metric following Monday’s release. They are projected as a 15-point favorite by Kenpom.com.

Bulldogs update: The wins came against 300 Kenpom teams: Sacramento State, Prairie View A&M and Long Beach State (and that required a 14-0 run to end the game). Aside from an 18-point loss at Cal State Bakersfield, the losses were reasonably close: a five-point margin at UC Santa Barbara, 11 points against a Washington State team that had just won at Nevada, and in double overtime against Cal Baptist . The squad has 11 new players, most of whom are JC transfers. Junior guard Amar Augillard, who was the JC National Player of the Year at Triton (Ill.) College, is the leading scorer with 17.6 points per game despite shooting just 25.4% on 3s. Salt Lake CC sophomore guard Zaon Collins is averaging 15.0 points per game following a 27-point game against Washington State. Mykell Robinson (10.7 ppg), a 6-7 forward, is heading to his fourth school. Alex Crawford, a 6-8 forward who was teammates with SDSU’s Wayne McKinney III at Coronado High School, is on his third run after starting at Division I Stetson before spending last season at San Diego City College. Coach Vance Walberg’s offense relies on creating open threes, but the Bulldogs are making just 25.8% of them, which ranks 357th in Division I (out of 364).

Next: Saturday vs. USD (7 p.m., YurView)

– MARK ZEIGLER