Dec. 26, 2007
SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO STATE GAME NOTES | SDSU BROADCAST FLIP CARD | SAM HOUSTON STATE GAME NOTES
Sam Houston State (10-0/0-0 SLC) at San Diego State (9-3/0-0 MWC)
Television
The Mtn. - Rich Cellini (play-by-play), Larry Mangino (analysis).
Channel Listings
Cox Cable Channel 320.
Radio
AM 600 KOGO - Ted Leitner (play-by-play).
San Diego State Returns to Montezuma Mesa to Play Host to Unbeaten Sam Houston State Friday Night
San Diego State (9-3), which will look to avoid its first two-game losing streak in 11 months, returns from the Christmas holiday break to play host to one of nine unbeaten teams in America, Sam Houston State (10-0), on Friday, Dec. 28, at Cox Arena.
Tip time is set for 8:05 p.m. PT and the contest will be televised by The Mtn. (Cox Cable channel 320). The game can also be heard on the Aztec radio flagship station AM 600 KOGO.
Prior to the non-conference tilt, the SDSU women's basketball team will play host to a pair of games at Cox Arena featuring the Aztecs and Quinnipiac at 2 p.m., followed by Seton Hall and Western Michigan at 4 p.m.
San Diego State dropped to 9-3 on the season right before Christmas after losing to 19th-ranked Arizona, 74-58, on Saturday afternoon in the Fiesta Bowl Classic at McKale Center. The Aztecs outrebounded the Wildcats and finished the game with a plus-12 advantage in free-throw makes, but could not overcome 32.2 percent shooting from the floor and 25 percent shooting from three-point distance, while allowing Arizona to shoot 54.2 percent for the contest.
Junior forward Kyle Spain led all scorers with 20 points, his second 20-plus point performance of the season and the third of his career, and grabbed a team-high tying eight rebounds. Frontcourt classmate Ryan Amoroso chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds. With only two Aztecs in the double-figure scoring column, it marked the first game of the season in which SDSU did not have at least three players score 10 points or more.
Friday night will be the second game of a particularly challenging portion of San Diego State's schedule. After leaving the desert having played No. 19 Arizona and the Aztecs facing a 10-0 Bearkat club, three of the next four SDSU opponents boast winning records. Including Sam Houston State, the Aztecs' next five opponents are a combined 40-14 (.741).
The Bearkats, who are tied with Memphis for the eighth-longest active winning streak nationally, extended its season-opening winning streak to 10 games with their home victory over UC Irvine, 61-54, back on Thursday, Dec. 20. Senior guard Shamir McDaniel scored a game-high 22 points against the Anteaters and is leading the team in scoring at 12.3 points. Classmate forward Ryan Bright, the squad's second-leading scorer (11.6), turned in a double-double with his 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Sam Houston State has been winning ballgames by an average of 17.2 points, while limiting its opponents to below 34 percent shooting from the field and less than 26 percent from beyond the arc. Among its 10 wins was a signature victory over Texas Tech, 56-54, and a win over Fresno State, 68-57, both at home. For the season, SHSU is 3-0 on the road with decisions over Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Saint Louis and Texas Southern.
This is the first-ever meeting between the schools and the first meeting for the Aztecs vs. a Southland Conference member since the 2001-02 season when they took on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
San Diego State has been very good at avoiding losing streaks recently as it has not experienced a two-game losing streak since falling at No. 13/11 Air Force and at UNLV last year on Jan. 20 and 23, respectively. The Aztecs will also be looking to win their 12th consecutive game at Cox Arena, the fifth-longest home-winning streak in school history.