Dec. 30, 2005
SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO STATE GAME NOTES | LMU GAME NOTES | SDSU BROADCAST FLIP CARD
Loyola Marymount (3-10/0-0 WCC) at San Diego State (6-5/0-0 MWC)
Television
Channel 4 San Diego - Steve Quis and Jim Brogan
Radio
XPRS 1090-AM, San Diego - Ted Leitner
Aztecs Look to Close Out 2005 In Style; Battle Long-Time Rival Loyola Marymount on Saturday Afternoon in Final Test Before Conference Play
San Diego State (6-5), which closes out the 2005 calendar year with its final test before beginning a string of 16 conference games next Wednesday, faces Loyola Marymount (3-10) this Saturday afternoon on New Year's Eve day at Cox Arena. Game time is set for noon PT.
The contest will be televised by Channel 4 San Diego with Steve Quis and Jim Brogan calling the action, while XPRS 1090-AM will have radio coverage of the contest with Ted Leitner providing play-by-play.
San Diego State saw its two-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night in an 80-65 loss at Providence. The Aztecs raced to a 25-12 lead, connecting on eight of their first 10 shots of the game, but were unable to overcome a 49-32 rebound disadvantage and 37.9 percent field goal shooting for the game.
Junior guard Brandon Heath connected on 4-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 22 points. Freshman forward Kyle Spain recorded his third straight double-digit scoring game with a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, junior forward Mohamed Abukar, playing in his first game as an Aztec, scored 10 points and tied for team-high honors with three assists in 29 minutes of action off the bench.
Once again, San Diego State was without junior forward Marcus Slaughter. The Mountain West Conference preseason player of the year is recovering from a second degree MCL injury to his left knee. The original diagnosis on Dec. 18 had Slaughter missing between three and four weeks of action.
Loyola Marymnount enters the game with a rather misleading 3-10 record. The Lions have played just five of 13 games at home this season and have suffered five losses by a total of 11 points. Loyola Marymount does own victories at Brigham Young (83-71) and vs. UC Santa Barbara (77-60).
The sixth most played series in San Diego State history, Saturday will mark the 57th meeting between the Lions and Aztecs with SDSU owning a 30-26 series lead. San Diego State has won three of the last four and five of the last seven, but Loyola Marymount used a 24-12 second-half rebound advantage to overcome a seven-point deficit and claim a 72-68 victory last season at Gersten Pavilion.
This marks the third consecutive season that San Diego State has played on Dec. 31st and the fourth time in five seasons that the Aztecs have closed out the calendar year with a game.
The Aztecs are looking to post their second consecutive winning month (3-2 in November and currently 3-3 in December), something SDSU has not accomplished since November and December of 2003. A victory would also allow the Aztecs to match its best start in the past three seasons.
Following the game, San Diego State will turn its attention to Mountain West Conference play. The Aztecs open up league play next week with a home contest against upstart Colorado State (10-2) on Wednesday and at Air Force (11-1) on Jan. 7. SDSU's first two league opponents have a combined 21-3 record.