Fresno State vs. San Diego State

Viejas Arena – San Diego State University

Saturday, January 10 at 8:10 PM

San Diego State Aztecs are home to face the team up north after a thriller in Reno earlier this week.

The Aztecs are looking to avoid adding a bad loss to their NCAA Tournament resume as they play Fresno State.

Brian Dutcher and his squad went into Reno versus one of the hottest teams in the conference and came out with an anxiety-filled win. A game that saw the Aztecs in a back-and-forth battle with the nerves of fans in a conundrum. San Diego State is hoping to calm the nerves and have a stress-free win against Fresno.

The Team up North 

The Bulldogs of Fresno have had a very high and low start to the 2025-26 college basketball season.

Fresno State started the first eight games of the season 6-2, looking like a potential solid program in the Mountain West. Then the Bulldogs were on a six-game losing streak with some close losses that could have gone one way or the other. Fresno State, in its last game, defeated the Spartans of San Jose 70-55. Fresno State is looking to squander the at-large bid hopes of the Aztecs with what would be a stunner on Steve Fisher Court.

Caging the Top Dogs

Fresno State averages 74.1 points per game while allowing 70.1. The Bulldogs shoot 45.7% from the field and 31.8% from beyond the arc. The strength of the Bulldogs is the team’s two star guards. Senior Jake Heidbreder and junior Zaon Collins. The Clemson transfer Heidbreder may be new to Fresno State, but he is not new to the Mountain West. Before Clemson, the star guard from Floyds Knobs, Indiana, played for two seasons up in Colorado Springs for the Air Force Falcons.

Heidbreder is the leading scorer on one of the youngest teams in college basketball at 18.1 points per game. Those who remember the Floyd’s Knobs natives’ time at the academy remember him dropping 17 points in an Aztec win back during the 2022-23 season. The Aztecs’ back court is going to have its hands full and needs to keep Heidbreder underneath his average.

The junior guard from Las Vegas is second on the team in scoring with an average of 13.6 points per game and is the definition of a downhill guard. Collins loves to make his money by getting to the rim and the mid-range area. He will shoot the occasional beyond-the-arc look, but Collins will get to his spot inside the arc and make teams pay.

Another player of note who the Aztecs need to contain on the glass is seven-foot freshman Wilson Jacques. The young Frenchman averages 8.4 rebounds per game and is relentless in the painted area on the glass.

Avoiding a Bad Loss 

The Aztecs are looking to keep the momentum rolling against the Bulldogs and avoid what would be a catastrophic blow to the team’s resume. Expect this to be a stress win for Dutcher and company before heading up to Laramie to face off against the Wyoming Cowboys.

Bryant Thursby

Bryant is an Assistant Coach at Heritage High School. He is a big-time SDSU fanatic and a Padres fan.