March 5, 2007
SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO STATE GAME NOTES | SDSU BROADCAST FLIP CARD
(6) Colorado State (16-12/6-10 MWC) vs. (3) San Diego State (21-9/10-6 MWC)
Television
The Mtn.
Tim Neverett (play-by-play), Joe Cravens (analysis) and Blaine Fowler (sidelines).
Channel Listings
Cox Cable San Diego 320.
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 tip-off with Jack Cronin serving as host.
Third-Seeded Aztecs Begin Defense of MWC Crown on Thursday Night in Sin City Against Colorado State
Third-seeded San Diego State (21-9 overall; 10-6 MWC), the defending Mountain West Conference tournament champions and the only school in league history to win the event twice, opens play against sixth-seeded Colorado State (16-12 overall; 6-10 MWC) on Thursday night in Las Vegas. Announced game time is 8:30 p.m. PST for the fourth and final quarterfinal round game at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The game will be televised by The Mtn. and can be heard up and down the West Coast on XX Sports Radio (1090-AM and 105.7-FM in San Diego).
San Diego State enters the Mountain West Championships as the number three-seed, after winning eight of its last 10 games following a 2-4 league start. The Aztecs secured the number three seed on Saturday afternoon with a 56-51 victory over TCU. Despite tying a season-low by shooting just 32.8 percent from the field, the Aztecs had a season-high 20 offensive rebounds, committed a season-low eight personal fouls and used a +8 turnover margin (turnovers: SDSU 10, TCU 18), to find a way to win.
Senior forward Mohamed Abukar and senior guard Brandon Heath tied for team-high honors with 12 points. Abukar added six rebounds and Heath dished out three assists. Junior center Jerome Habel scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Richie Williams posted 10 points and four assists.
After overcoming injuries during the early portion of the conference season (Mohamed Abukar (knee), Jerome Habel (ankle), Kyle Spain (flu) and Richie Williams (flu)), a brutal opening schedule which saw the Aztecs travel to Brigham Young, Air Force and UNLV in the first 21 days of league play (those three teams went 46-2 at home this season), and bad luck (the Aztecs lost two games it led in the final 60 seconds vs. Wyoming and at Air Force), San Diego State rebounded to be one of the best teams in the league the second half of conference play as nobody posted a better record after January 27th (SDSU, Brigham Young and UNLV were all 8-2).
The Aztecs did with it a commitment to defense. In the final 10 games of the season, SDSU opponents shot just 41.7 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from three-point range and averaged 63.6 points a game. SDSU forced 16.6 turnovers a game and averaged 9.3 steals. The Aztecs have held nine of their last 12 opponents to a field goal percentage of 42 percent or less from the field.
San Diego State is 7-5 all-time in seven previous MWC tournament appearances. The Aztecs are the only team to win the title twice (2002 and 2006). There is an eerie resemblance to last season's run toward the tournament championship (see box above).
The Aztecs are 21-18 all-time in Division I league tournaments and 15-7 in the opening games of Division I conference tournaments.