Men's Basketball

SDSU-Liberty Postgame Notes

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Nov. 9, 2007

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes

FRESNO, Calif. -

San Diego State-Liberty Postgame Notes in PDF Format

Final Score: San Diego State 62, Liberty 50
SDSU Record: (1-0)
Next game: Saturday, Nov. 10, vs. Portland at 8 p.m. PT (World Vision Classic; Fresno, Calif.)
Media Coverage: KLSD AM 1360; GameTracker on www.goaztecs.com

* With freshmen D.J. Gay and Tim Shelton earning the starting nod tonight, they became the 10th and 11th freshmen to start a season-opening game under Steve Fisher and the fifth and sixth under Fisher while at San Diego State. The pair join Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jerod Ward, Albert White, Bradley Jackson, Steve Sir, Brandon Heath and Richie Williams as the only freshmen to start a season opener during Fisher's tenure as head coach.

* With Gay and Shelton in the starting lineup, it marked the first time in Fisher's career at SDSU that two freshmen started a season-opening contest.

* With the win, the Aztecs improve to 7-2 under Fisher, 20-18 at the Division I era and 55-32 in school history.

* San Diego State has won three consecutive season openers for the first time since doing it in 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2001-02.

* Fisher improves to 14-3 in season-opening games.

* With the win, San Diego State has won three straight season-opening games following an appearance in a postseason tournament for the first time in school history. Following its 2003 NIT berth, SDSU won its 2003-04 opener vs. Long Beach State. Then after its 2006 NCAA appearance, SDSU defeated Murray State last year. In 2006-07, the Aztecs advanced to the NIT.

* Despite winning the only meeting between the schools tonight, Fisher's Aztecs have now won the last five meetings with Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. Prior to arriving at Liberty this past spring, McKay coached Mountain West Conference member, New Mexico.

* In his first game as an Aztec, Billy White came off the bench and had 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds. He was also 5-for-8 shooting and 3-3 from the charity stripe.

* Kyle Spain shared game-high honors with 14 points to lead the Aztecs in scoring for the fifth time in his career. Spain was perfect from the free throw line making all six attempts.

* Lorrenzo Wade scored 12 points in the game to record his 23rd career double-figure scoring game.

* In his homecoming, Fresno native and freshman Tim Shelton had nine points and four rebounds.