Oct. 30, 2006
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's basketball team will open its 2006-07 season with an exhibition game Wednesday night against Point Loma Nazarene. Game time is set for 7 p.m. PST at Cox Arena.
SDSU, preseason favorites to win the Mountain West Conference for a second consecutive season, returns four starters from last season, including the conference's top returning player in Brandon Heath and preseason all-MWC first-team forward Mohamed Abukar. Also returning are sophomores Kyle Spain and Richie Williams.
The Aztecs are coming off a season in which they finished with a 24-9 record, won the regular season MWC title outright and earned a berth in the 2006 NCAA tournament after they won the conference tournament crown.
This season, SDSU has earned national attention as several college basketball publications have picked the Aztecs to win the MWC and advance to the NCAA tournament. Last week, San Diego State received 24 votes in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, good for 34th nationally.
Meanwhile, Point Loma Nazarene comes into the exhibition contest having posted an 18-11 record during the 2005-06 campaign. The Sea Lions return 12 letterwinners, including NAIA third-team All-American Tim Kruge and honorable mention All-American Matt Benson.
Last season, the Aztecs claimed an 88-77 victory over PLNU on Dec. 3 to take an 8-5 regular-season series lead. Wednesday evening's game will mark just the second time the two have met in an exhibition game. In 2004-05, San Diego State walked away with an 87-67 decision.
SDSU will open its regular season schedule at the Shamrock Invitational in Moraga, Calif., where it will face off against Murray State on Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. PST.
Tickets for Wednesday night's exhibition game, as well as individual and season tickets, are available by calling (619) 283-SDSU, by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting the Cox Arena box office.