The season officially starts for the San Diego State Aztecs as they host the Tritons of the University of California, San Diego, on Wednesday night.

The game tips off at 7:00 pm and the Aztecs are favored to win by anywhere from 9-12 points. The matchup can be watched on the Mountain West Network. 

It is hard to imagine the stakes being very high this early in the season, but that is arguably the case. The Aztecs have a brutal schedule between November 18t and November 29, where they will play multiple top-25 quality teams and will have to do so without Reese Waters. It is not a “must-win” game, but if the Aztecs lose this game at home, it will be a blemish on the resume that will be hard to recover from.

Last week, the Aztecs played a scrimmage against California State University San Marcos and demolished them 80-39. The team was led by guard Nick Boyd, who scored 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in only 13 minutes of play. The team looked sharp defensively and played faster than they are known for offensively.

Playing the Cougars had an extra benefit for the Aztecs. CSUSM head coach Nick Booker was an assistant at UCSD two seasons ago and runs a very similar offense, giving SDSU a chance to practice against some of the sets they will see this week.

“They can spread you out, which is college basketball now… if you run into a night where they’re making a lot of threes, it can be a long night,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said Monday. “Down the stretch at their place last year, they had some shots that didn’t go in. We just hung in there, hung in there, and found a way to win at the end… from what I’ve seen on tape, I think they’ve got a chance to be better than they were a year ago.”

Opposing Player to Watch: no. 10  Harden Gray 

One key player to watch on the opposing team is 6-foot-4 guard Harden Gray. In last season’s game against UCSD, Gray scored 15 points and also collected five rebounds and five assists against the Aztecs. Overall, he averaged nine points, four rebounds, and four assists per game last year. 

As a senior, he is expected to take on a larger role. The key to stopping him will be closing out aggressively on his shot attempts. His efficiency drops dramatically when he is forced to put the ball on the floor.

Key to the game:

The key to this first game is something the Aztecs aren’t used to doing, and that is playing fast. There might not be a lead scorer on this team in the mold of Jaedon LeDee or Matt Bradley.  BJ Davis and Nick Boyd have had an offensive explosion in the two scrimmages over the off-season. Miles Byrd and a few others are likely capable of that as well. 

“As much as we’ve practiced a long time we’re finally getting all the pieces together, and so we’re still kind of a work in progress as to figuring out what role everybody is going to end up playing on this years team,” Dutcher said explained on the progress of his team.

The team should compensate for its lack of a true number-one option by running around on both sides of the floor. Playing fast and aggressive defensively can force many turnovers, which leads to easy scoring opportunities on the other end. Getting those easy buckets before the opposing defense gets set will help offset the lack of a true lead scorer.

 Given that last season, the game came down to a last-second tip-in by Jaedon LeDee, the team will need that aggression and pace of play if they want to prevail.

Tron Johnson

Native San Diegan living in Montana. Big time Aztec Basketball fan. Creator of Aztec Breakdown. Hoping to help people enjoy basketball more by increasing their understanding of it.