Jan. 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO - THE AZTEC UPDATE
Record: 8-5... Won two straight and four of its last five games
Mountain West Conference Record: 1-0
Next Game: at Air Force (12-1 entering home game vs. BYU tonight), Sat., Jan. 7; 7 p.m. MST; no television coverage; radio coverage 1700-AM
* WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES - The day after San Diego State handed Colorado State just its second loss of the season, 83-75, San Diego State made significant moves in both of the major RPI indices. In rpiratings.com, SDSU jumped from a ranking of 158 on Wednesday to 127 on Thursday, while making a move from 157 to 127 in collegerpi.com. The current ranking represents the highest RPI ranking of the season for the Aztecs.
* FINDING THE NET - San Diego State shot 52.6 percent from the field against Colorado State. Coupled that with a 53.1 percent effort against Loyola Marymount, the Aztecs have produced consecutive 50 percent or better shooting efforts for the first time this season. The last time an Aztec team did that was against San Diego (Dec. 1, 2004) and UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 4, 2004) of last season. After clearing 50 percent shooting just once in its first 11 games, the Aztecs have now reached that plateau in two straight games.
* MORE SCORING - San Diego State has scored 80 or more points in each of its last two games, its second such streak of the season. The 167 points in the last two games are the most in consecutive contests since scoring 179 in back-to-back overtime losses last season. The 167 points are the highest total in consecutive non-overtime games since scoring 169 in victories over San Diego (Dec. 1, 2004) and UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 4, 2004) of last season.
* TOUGH IN THE CONFERENCE OPENERS - San Diego State extended its league best win streak in Mountain West Conference openers to four games. The current list of consecutive victories in MWC openers is: San Diego State 4, Utah 3, Air Force 2 (plays tonight vs. BYU), UNLV 1.
* THREE GAMES ABOVE .500 - San Diego State is three games above .500 at 8-5 this late in the season for the first time since owning a 12-9 mark after 21 games of the 2003-04 season.
* NO SENIOR STARTER, NO TROUBLE - Last night San Diego State started a lineup with three juniors (Heath, Slaughter, Abukar) and two true freshmen (Spain and Williams) for the first time this season. It ended a streak of 19 consecutive games with at least one senior in the starting five for SDSU.
* Marcus Slaughter - Junior forward Marcus Slaughter made a big impact in his return to the lineup against the Rams. Although he was held to six points, he had a game-high 11 rebounds and a career-high six assists in 26 minutes action. His 11 boards were key as SDSU owned a 31-27 advantage on the glass and became just the fourth team to outrebound Colorado State this season. The best indication of how well he played might be found via the hockey plus/minus system. In the 26 minutes Slaughter was on the court, SDSU outscored Colorado State by 10 points, while in the 14 minutes he was on the bench, the Rams outscored the Aztecs by two points.
* Mohamed Abukar - Junior forward Mohamed Abukar reached double figures for the third time in as many games with a career-high tying 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting against Colorado State. The 10-for-12 performance was the second best ever by an Aztec player in an MWC game (minimum 10 attempts). The record is held by Chris Walton who connected on 10-of-11 shots vs. Colorado State last season (Jan. 24, 2005) in the game at Cox Arena. Abukar joins Brandon Heath as the only current Aztec players that scored in double figures in their first three SDSU games. In case your curious, Heath ran his career-opening double-digit scoring streak to 12.
* Brandon Heath - With his 28th career 20-plus point performance on Wednesday, junior guard Brandon Heath took the lead in the Mountain West Conference scoring race. Heath, who tied for game-high honors with 22 points, is now averaging 17.4 points per game. He has 20 or more points in three straight games, one shy of his career high set earlier this season. He is also rather hot from long range, having connected on 13 of his last 24 attempts from three-point range (54.2 percent).
* Kyle Spain - True freshman Kyle Spain continues to be one of the biggest surprises in the league this season. In his first MWC league game, Spain scored 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and added five rebounds. He has reached double figures in four of his last five games (and scored nine points in the other game). He is averaging 10.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
* Richie Williams - True freshmen Richie Williams had his second consecutive game with six assists on Wednesday against the Rams. He now has 12 assists in his last two games, the highest two-game total of his career. He also made all six of his free throw attempts and owns a streak of 10 consecutive makes from the line.