SAN DIEGO – Gonzaga’s Mark Few and San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher met last month at the West Coast Conference/Mountain West Conference joint media day in Las Vegas.

The coaches didn’t cover much ground during a brief conversation, chatting just long enough to exchange some cursory thoughts about their new rosters before both were whisked off to their next media obligation.

“He was talking about all his new guys, I was like, I know you’re going to play great defense and I know you’re going to rebound,” Few said on Oct. 17. “That’s a given at San Diego State.”

The data exists on both sides of Monday’s game between fourth-place Gonzaga (3-0) and San Diego State (2-0) at 7 p.m. (CBSSN) at Viejas Arena.

When San Diego State scored 100 points at Division III Occidental College last Tuesday, Dutcher worried that his team’s outside shooting — the Aztecs 18 times from behind the 3-point line in the 51-point win over Occidental — had been premature.

“I wish we could have saved some of those three,” Dutcher told reporters. “You know, bench them and bring them back against Gonzaga.”

It will be a clash of styles and future Pac-12 Conference foes when the Aztecs and Zags take the floor in the second game of a home-and-home series that began last year in Spokane when Dutcher’s team took on released at the end of the month. the second half, winning 84-74 and handing GU its first double-digit home loss since 2015.

San Diego State looks significantly different than last season after losing six of its top seven scorers to graduation or the transfer portal, and after a few notable injuries, it’s also possible that the Aztecs will hardly resemble the team they did preseason training camp. a month ago.

Reese Waters, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who was SDSU’s leading scorer last season with 22 points in the win over Gonzaga, is expected to miss a few more weeks with a stress fracture. The Aztecs could resort to even smaller looks in the backcourt if 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Miles Byrd misses his second straight game with an ankle injury. Byrd scored nine points and had four rebounds off the bench in Spokane last season.

“We’ll try to heal him as quickly as possible and like I said, it will probably really be a game-time decision depending on how quickly the rehab goes,” Dutcher said. “It’s hard to think he’s going to play, but that’s the beauty of not playing for six days. He’s limping around, he couldn’t play tomorrow, probably not the next day either.”

Few aren’t as concerned about SDSU’s personnel — who’s gone, who’s back, who’s injured, who’s healthy — and reiterated Friday that the Aztecs still rely on known principles, which is a level of athleticism, defensive discipline and rebounding entails, the Zags rarely see through the course of the season.

“To me they look the same,” Few said. “That’s the beauty of their program, just a bunch of tough, athletic guys who get you into a rock fight the way they play defense. They will absolutely hit the glass, they will be in those holes breaking us and making it difficult. They will be very, very physical.

“They’re going to be big around the rim, so our bigs are really going to have to be strong enough to make their moves and get to their shots. Then they are just very opportunistic in attack.”

Gonzaga also has SDSU on high alert.

Even by their own inflated standards, the Bulldogs operate at a high level on the offensive end, ranking first nationally in offensive efficiency according to KenPom. Gonzaga averaged 100.6 points per game against Baylor, Arizona State and UMass Lowell teams, all of which ranked in the top 125 of KenPom’s team ratings.

Another way to put GU’s offensive production into perspective?

Before Tuesday’s win over Occidental, SDSU had not scored 100 points in regulation since 2018. During the same period, Few’s teams at Gonzaga have scored 100 points in 35 games.

“We scored 100 points and everyone said, wow, that’s fantastic,” Dutcher said. “I think Gonzaga is averaging 95 in their first three games. How is that possible? They played Arizona State and Baylor. It’s common for them to score that many points. We sit here and think, wow, that’s incredible. Now we have to play against a team that scores so much every night.

“So we have to find a way to prevent this from happening in this building. We have to be tough and strong defensively and rebounding. Then we have to find a way to produce enough offense to get a win next Monday against a very good team.”

It will be a new look for SDSU’s frontcourt, which loses AP third-team All-American Jaedon LeDee, a 21.4 points per game scorer last season.

After dealing with LeDee’s physicality and strength last season, Gonzaga forward Graham Ike will face another test in 7-foot-1 freshman Magoon Gwath, who is known more for his quality rim protection and floor-stretching ability. Gwath isn’t an offensive threat in the two games of his college career, but he is averaging 3.5 blocks.

Ike brings an 0-5 career record against SDSU into Monday’s game and made it clear during WCC media day interviews that he is committed to beating the Aztecs in what will likely be his final effort against Dutcher’s squad.

“Personally, I always enjoy playing San Diego State just because I’ve been playing them since I went to college,” Ike said. “I already know it’s going to be a dogfight every time we play them, but that’s definitely one I’m looking forward to.”

Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard, who has 30 assists and two turnovers in three games, has also lost to SDSU at two different schools. Nembhard’s 2022-2023 Creighton team lost to SDSU in the Elite Eight.

There’s also an Aztec looking for his first win against Gonzaga. University of San Diego transfer Wayne McKinney III, who averages 10.5 ppg, has lost four times to Gonzaga in the WCC but should have his best chance to take down the Bulldogs on Monday after transferring to the school at the other side of town had been transferred.

“This game definitely matters to me, it matters to us too,” McKinney said. “This is one of our important tasks that we have on our schedule, so if we get one here at home, it means the world to us, so we have to get it done.”