SAN DIEGO – The men's basketball programs at San Diego State and Arizona State will begin a home-and-home series in the upcoming season with the Aztecs traveling to Tempe, Ariz., in December and the Sun Devils returning the game in San Diego in 2021-22.
On December 10, SDSU will visit Desert Financial Arena for the first time since the 2017 season, with the tipoff time to be announced at a later date. As part of the contract, Arizona State will return the game and appear on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena for the first time since 2016, the next year. The date for that game has not been determined.
Overall, the Sun Devils hold an 18-10 advantage in the all-time series, which can be broken into two-time frames. In the first 10 meetings, from 1937-to-1958, the Aztecs went 7-3, regardless of location. However, in the last 18 games, from 1958-to-2017, SDSU trails in wins 3-to-15.
When the series with Arizona State resumes, the Aztecs will be looking to snap a four-game slide dating back to the 2008 season. In games played on ASU's home floor, San Diego State is 2-12 overall and have been winless its last six games in the Valley of the Sun. SDSU's last victory in Tempe was a 77-74 triumph on Jan. 7, 1978.
When the teams face off in Viejas in 2021-22, San Diego State will look to return to results which it enjoyed at the beginning of the series. In the first six meetings, all contested in Aztec Gym from 1937-to-1953, SDSU went 4-2. In its last win over the Sun Devils, a 64-62 win on Dec. 16, 2000 in Cox Arena, Deandre Moore hit an off-balance five-footer with 2.1 seconds to play lifting the Aztecs to the two-point victory. Randy Holcomb and Myron Epps, a pair of 1,000-career-point scorers, led the Aztecs in the triumph. Holcomb, who scored seven straight points in the final 3:05, led the Aztecs with 22 points. Epps added 13 points for San Diego State, which won despite making just 11-of-22 free throws in the contest.
San Diego State enters 2020-21 coming off the 2019-20 regular-season crown, its league leading 12th Mountain West Conference men's basketball championship. Head coach Brian Dutcher, 73-26 in three seasons guiding the program, saw his team finish last season's COVID-19 pandemic shortened schedule ranked No. 6 in the nation and with a 30-2 record. The Aztecs were the only team in the nation to finish the regular season with just one loss and was one of three teams with two losses when the season was halted.