Oregon vs. SDSU

When: Wednesday 1 p.m

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

In the air: Stream on Max; 760 hours

Series history: Draw 3-3. SDSU won the most recent meeting, 80-68 at Viejas Arena in 1997.

Ducks update: They are 6-0 after coming from 10 down to score the final 11 points of the game in an 80-70 win against No. 20 ranked Texas A&M in the game immediately after SDSU-Creighton. They had four players score in double figures, led by Villanova transfer TJ Bamba with 18 (10 of 12 at the line). Torrey Pines High School alum Brandon Angel, a transfer from Stanford who was considering SDSU, had 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Coach Dana Altman returned 7-foot Nate Bittle and 6-foot-1 Kwame Evans (the cousin of former SDSU player Che Evans Jr.) and then added pieces around them from the portal. Bamba and Angel are two of the seven transfers. The other wins are less impressive: UC Riverside, Montana, Portland, Troy and Oregon State. Oregon will test the Aztecs defensively with pressure on the wings and a matchup zone that confused their younger players when they faced one in the opener against UCSD. Texas A&M missed its last 11 shots and 17 of its last 19. The Ducks are ranked No. 28 in the Kenpom metric and projected to win by two against SDSU.

Aztecs update: The convincing 71-53 victory against No. 21-ranked Creighton moved the Aztecs up 15 spots in Kenpom to 40th. That’s second-best in the Mountain West, behind Nevada, with a rating of 34. In defensive efficiency, the Bluejays, after saving 33.9% of shots, rank No. 5. They rank Ranked No. 1 nationally in block speed after an average of 8.5 rejections per match. . The big revelation of the season is sophomore guard BJ Davis, who is scoring a team-high 15.0 points per game and shooting 62.2%. “I just saw where I had advantages in certain places and I took advantage of them,” Davis said after shooting 7 of 11 for a career-high 18 points on Tuesday. “I tried to hunt and stay ready.” He is also averaging 4.5 rebounds per game and has seven steals in four games. No one on the roster is averaging more than 5.0 rebounds per game, but six players are at 3.8 higher. In four previous non-conference events in Las Vegas, the Aztecs were 7-1 and won the title three times.

Next: Saturday vs. No. 6 Houston, No. 9 Alabama, Rutgers or Notre Dame.

–MARK ZEIGLER

Originally published: November 26, 2024 at 6:28 PM PST