Dec. 30, 2010
SAN DIEGO -
No. 7 San Diego State-Occidental Game Notes | SDSU Broadcast Flip
No. 7 San Diego State and Occidental College Close the 2010 Calendar Year with an Afternoon Date at Viejas Arena
After leaving Las Vegas with two victories last week and opening the season with a school-record 14 straight wins, San Diego State maintained its No. 7 national ranking in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Top-25 Polls, which were released Monday. With that said, SDSU will close its non-conference portion of its schedule on Friday afternoon against Occidental College.
The New Year's Eve game is set for Viejas Arena at 1 p.m. PT. There is no television coverage for the game, but the tilt can be heard on radio in Southern California on AM 600 KOGO with Ted Leitner calling the action.
San Diego State, which was last in action on Dec. 22, earned its 14th win in as many tries this season despite being outrebounded for a third straight game and outshot from the floor for the first time in 2010-11 by an IUPUI team it was facing for a second time this year. The Aztecs dismissed the Jaguars by 15 points in Oxford, Ohio, in November, but this victory did not come as easy. SDSU trailed at halftime (29-27), was outrebounded (28-23), allowed IUPUI to shoot 47.7 percent from the field, while shooting just 46.9 percent itself, and was held scoreless for the final 5 minutes, 55 seconds. But in the end, the Aztecs forced the Jaguars into committing 16 turnovers and rode the senior coattails of D.J. Gay (18 points) and Malcolm Thomas (12 points, 9 rebounds) to escape with the two-point win. In fact, Thomas' status prior to the game was uncertain after he suffered a turf toe injury the night before against San Francisco.
The Aztecs are playing on New Year's Eve for the second straight season and the Dec. 31 date is somewhat of a fixture during the Steve Fisher era, which is in its 12th season. Friday's game will mark the sixth time San Diego State has taken the floor on the final day of the calendar year. In the five previous games, SDSU owns a 4-1 record on New Year's Eve, including last season's 89-54 victory over Pomona-Pitzer. San Diego State's only blemish occurred in 2004 when it fell to Providence, 76-67, in a game that was delayed for more than two hours due to a power outage.
Occidental College is 5-3 on the season after beating Pacifica at home, 90-62, on Wednesday. Deshun McCoy led Occidental with 20 points in just 18 minutes and Kris Montoya added 19 points. Jake Copithorne wiped the window with a game-high 13 rebounds. The Tigers have played two Division I schools this season, including San Diego and Cal State Fullerton. Oxy was on the wrong end of an 83-66 decision vs. the Toreros even though it counted as an exhibition for the Tigers. More than a month later, Occidental traveled to Fullerton and fell, 76-48, to the homestanding Titans.
The two Southern California schools are meeting for the 33rd time, but for the first time since 1953. The Aztecs own a 24-8 lead in the series and have won nine straight. SDSU and Occidental met regularly when the two institutions were members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the late 1920s to 1940.