Nov. 20, 2006
SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO STATE GAME NOTES | SDSU BROADCAST FLIP CARD
UC Riverside (3-2) at San Diego State (5-0)
Television
No television coverage is scheduled for this game.
Radio
XX Sports Radio 1090-AM and 105.7 FM. Ted Leitner (play-by-play) will call the action. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tipoff with Jack Cronin serving as host.
San Diego State Looks to Stay Perfect, Plays Host to UC Riverside
San Diego State, 5-0 for the first time since 1984-85, looks to extend its best start of the Steve Fisher era Tuesday night at Cox Arena as the Aztecs play host to UC Riverside (3-2).
Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. and can be heard on XX Sports Radio 1090 AM/105.7 FM with Ted Leitner calling play-by-play. There is no television coverage scheduled for the game, but CSTV's Gametracker will be available on www.goaztecs.cstv.com.
San Diego State comes into the game at 5-0 after defeating Pac-10 Conference opponent California, 86-79, Saturday night at Cox Arena on a night where the Aztecs unveiled their 2006 Mountain West Conference Tournament championship banner and a year after the Golden Bears handed SDSU their worst loss of the season. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak vs. the Bears, a seven-game streak against Pac-10 competition and a 12-game streak to automatic qualifying BCS conferences.
The afternoon marked the first contest for Aztec newcomer Jerome Habel and he did not disapoint. The No. 2 junior college player in the nation last season broke onto the scene with a game-high 23 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The Rockville, Md., native also added three blocks in 30 minutes off the bench.
Frontcourt teammate Mohamed Abukar nearly matched Habel's performance with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Brandon Heath tallied 19 points and dished out a season-high seven assists in 40 minutes.
More impressive than SDSU's individual achievements was the shooting performance as a team. The Aztecs finished the game at 60.7 percent, making 34 of their 56 shots, marking the third consecutive game in which they have shot over 50 percent. For the season, San Diego State has been lights out connecting on more than half of its shots in four games this season and making over 60 percent in the last two games.
UC Riverside makes the trip south on Interstate 15 having won two straight, most recently a 75-55 decision over Hope International. The Highlanders, who built a 30-point lead at halftime, ran away with the game from the outset and never trailed. UCR was led by its five players who scored in double figures starting with Justin Bell and Larry Cunningham's 14 points. Dedrick Bates and Chris Johnson added 13 apiece, while Sean Anderson came off the bench to add 10.
The Aztecs are looking to continue their best start since the 1984-85 team opened the season 8-0 against a UCR squad they have not played since 1999.
Tuesday's meeting will be the sixth all time with San Diego State leading the series, 5-0. The two schools have played only once at Cox Arena with the Aztecs walking away with a 73-57 season-opening decision. In addition, all five prior meetings have taken place in "America's Finest City" as well.
San Diego State's "tour" of California universities continues this weekend as the Aztecs travel to north to UC Santa Barbara for a game on Saturday. Four days later, SDSU welcomes San Diego to Montezuma Mesa to conclude the tour. Up to this point, the Aztecs are a perfect 3-0 vs. teams from California (at Saint Mary's, vs. UCSD, vs. Cal). The contest against the Highlanders is the third of five consecutive games against teams from the Golden State (UC San Diego, California, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and San Diego).