March 17, 2011
TUCSON, Ariz. -
(2) No. 6/5 San Diego State-(7) Temple Game Notes in PDF Format | SDSU Broadcast Flip Card in PDF Format
Having Secured First NCAA Tournament Victory of the Division I Era, San Diego State Faces Temple For the Right to Advance to the Sweet 16
Coming off the school's first NCAA Tournament victory since March 9, 1968 (15,713 days without a NCAA tourney win), No. 6/5 San Diego State (33-2) will play Temple (26-7) Saturday afternoon in the third round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
The West Region game for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 and next week's games in Anaheim, Calif., will be the first third-round game at the McKale Center on Saturday and is scheduled to tip at 3:10 p.m. MST/PDT (Arizona and California currently have the same time). The contest will be shown nationally in high definition on TNT, is available nationally on Westwood One Radio and in Southern California on AM 600 KOGO.
San Diego State is set to face Temple in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. |
The Aztecs, seeded second, continued their magical season on Thursday by picking up the first NCAA Tournament victory in 41 seasons at the Division I level, with a 68-50 victory over the 15th seed Northern Colorado. The Aztecs trailed for all of 16 seconds in becoming the first team with 33 victories this season.
Sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard recorded his 40th career double-double and the 23rd of the season (tying Michael Cage's school record), with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. It was the 10th time this season that he has scored at least 20 points in a game. Senior forward Billy White continued his stellar play with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. A native of Las Vegas, White has 10 or more points in a season-best five consecutive games (13.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 16-18 FTs during the stretch) and posted consecutive double-doubles for the first time in his 138-game career. Sophomore guard Chase Tapley connected on a pair of three-point field goals for the second consecutive game and ended the contest with 14 points, four rebounds and a team-high-tying three assists. Sophomore guard James Rahon added 12 points, hitting on 2-of-3 attempts from bonus distance.
The Aztecs got another stellar defensive performance, limiting the Bears to 33.9-percent field-goal shooting and eight free-throw attempts en route to allowing 50 points. That is Northern Colorado's second-lowest scoring output of the season and more than 22 points below their scoring average. In addition, the Aztecs committed a season-low-tying four turnovers and owned a 45-33 advantage on the glass.
The Aztecs now look for consecutive NCAA Tournament victories for the first time since March 10 and 11, 1967. In the 1967 NCAA Division II Tournament, the Aztecs defeated Portland State (sub-regional) and Regis (Colo.) (regional) before falling in the quarterfinal round to Steve Fisher's alma mater, Illinois State, in triple overtime.
San Diego State and Temple are meeting for just the second time. The Aztecs claimed a 75-64 victory on Dec. 30, 1981, in the Cabrillo Classic at the San Diego Sports Arena. Steve Fisher is 2-0 against the Owls, defeating them twice in the NCAA Tournament. In the 1992 NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines recorded a 73-66 decision over the Owls in Atlanta, Ga. The '92 Michigan team was the freshman year for the Fab Five and Fisher guided his squad to the national championship game and losing to Duke, 71-51. In 1993, Fisher and UM disposed of Temple in the Elite Eight round, 77-72, en route to advancing to the national championship game and falling to North Carolina, 77-71.