Fresh off a thrilling Thanksgiving Week, the San Diego State Aztecs travel to Northern California to take on the 3-4 Fresno State Bulldogs for the conference opener

Head coach Brian Dutcher and his squad are 4-2 on the season after defeating two ranked opponents during Feast Week. As a result of winning third place in the Players Era Festival, the Aztecs moved into the AP Top 25 rankings at No. 24.

San Diego State will now play in their first road game of the season. The contest is in familiar territory as the Aztecs have played 22 games in Fresno with an 11-11 record against the Bulldogs.

“We are going there to win,” Dutcher said Monday. “It’s a road conference game, so it makes it double as hard. So, we’ll do everything in our power to put Houston behind us and get focused on the next task. I’ve got a great coaching staff, and I think we’ll be able to do that.”

Since 2019, SDSU has dominated this matchup, winning ten straight games against Fresno State.

However, this Fresno State program is heading in a new direction.

Getting to Know the Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are now coached by Vance Walberg. He has been in the profession since 1971 with years of experience at the high school, college, and NBA level.

The hiring of Walberg is a good match for Fresno State. He coached at Clovis West High School in two different stints for a total of 22 seasons. In between them, he became the head coach for Pepperdine University as well as assistant roles with the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Sacramento Kings.

The Bulldogs should start to see strides in their program with his coaching experience.

“Vance is a great coach, we have known that for years,” Dutcher said. “He creates space, he opens up driving lanes, doubles gaps where there is no help, and he attacks the rim. He attacks at a high level, and they shoot the three. And they are good at it. So, we’ll need to do a good job of defending the dribble-drive, especially getting back on fastbreak on broken floors. This is going to be a challenge for us on the road against a team that has some time off to get ready for us.”

The Bulldogs are coming off a tough loss to CA Baptist in the Third Place game of the Acrisure Holiday Invitational. The Lancers defeated the Bulldogs 86-81 in double overtime as the Fresno State comeback attempt fell short. SDSU will play CA Baptist later this month.

Fresno State has six players who score at least nine points per contest, including three who average north of 10 points per game. Despite the plethora of scorers, Fresno State ranks 204th out of 351 schools, averaging 75.1 points per game.

Guard Amar Augillard leads the way, averaging 17.6 points, which is tied for 88th in the country. Guard Zaon Collins is right behind him at 15.0 per game on 51.7% shooting from the floor and also averages 2.2 steals.

Forward Mykell Robinson is third on the team in points at 10.7 and also averages 6.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists (leads the team). Forward Elijah Price leads the team with 9.1 rebounds, which is tied for 31st in the country.

Player to Watch: Amar Augillard

The reigning Junior College (JUCO) Player of the Year will be the player to look out for in this contest.

Augillard can score the rock. At Triton College, he averaged 22.7 points per game as his team had one of the best offenses in the country at that level. Before his breakout season, he redshirted at Georgia Southern.

The junior scored 26 points in the loss to CA Baptist. He shot 9-22 from the field and a miserable 3-11 from beyond the arc. He tallied eight rebounds and a steal but it was not enough to defeat the Lancers.

AND 1⃣ pic.twitter.com/kGCqIaZWzE

— Fresno State Men’s Basketball (@FresnoStateMBB) November 28, 2024

Augillard has scored 20+ points in four games this year and reached 30 points in the opening win of the season against Sacramento State. The Aztecs need to be careful that he doesn’t take over the game. The good news for SDSU is that he doesn’t shoot at a high rate at all at just 39.4% from the floor this season.

Furthermore, when the ball is in his hands, he more than likely let it fly. He averages only 0.7 assists per game and has yet to finish with more than two assists in a game. If SDSU can limit his scoring, then he won’t be as much of a factor as Fresno State would like. He has only shown to be a threat when he shoots the ball.

Player to Watch: Zaon Collins – Honorable Mention

Collins gets an honorable mention here as a player to look out for. Collins contributes more to the team than Augillard does and should even be shooting the ball more often. At 6-foot-1, Collins averages 5.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

The sophomore has missed two games this season which both turned out to be wins. The good news for Fresno State is that he is back healthy and is coming off a good game against the Lancers. If Collins can limit his turnovers he can be a threat against SDSU.

Both Augillard and Collins should be the main source of offense for the Bulldogs on Wednesday.

Key to the Game

Fresno State will press after made baskets. They have been doing it all season and have shown to do it for a majority of a game. The Aztecs must not let that pressure disrupt their flow on offense.

“Yeah, they are picking up right now,” Dutcher said Monday when asked about the full-court pressure. “They are playing a three-quarter court 1-2-2 and they are playing a 2-2-1 and mixing it up a little bit and trying to pick up in the full court.”

Dutcher also explained that Walberg does not want to slow down the pace of the game. He prefers to speed it up. If the Aztecs’ offense is scoring, then he won’t press as much, and if the Aztecs are not scoring and making mistakes, he will press even more.

“If (Walberg) feels we are making mistakes and shooting too quick, then he will press all game, so it is an interesting combination that we’ll have to choose from.”

The Aztecs did a great job of not turning the ball over against Houston. Houston is a much better defensive team than Fresno State, and if the Aztecs can limit turnovers, they will score a lot of points.

This Fresno State team cannot be taken lightly anymore in this new era. This will be a good first road test for the Aztecs.

The contest is Wednesday night at 7:30 PM PT and can be seen on Fox Sports 1 (FS1)

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.