Aug. 15, 2008

SAN DIEGO -

SDSU Men's Basketball Schedule as of Aug. 15 in PDF Format

San Diego State released its 2008-09 men's basketball schedule on Friday afternoon. To date, the Aztecs will have a school-record 18 games available nationally on television, including 15 of their 16 Mountain West Conference matchups.

As of today, SDSU will play 14 games inside Cox Arena with seven of those starting at 7 p.m., two at 7:30 p.m., one at 8 p.m. and four set to tip at 1 p.m. The one 8 p.m. game scheduled for this season is a far cry from the six the Aztecs played in 2007-08. Of the 10 evening games this season, nine begin at or before 7:30 p.m. San Diego State is still expected to add one more non-conference home game to this year's slate.

Season tickets for the 2008-09 men's basketball season start as low as $99 for limited chair-back reserve seats. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Aztec Ticket Office at (619) 283-SDSU (7378) or by visiting Window E at Qualcomm Stadium. For more information on all season ticket, contact the Aztec Ticket Office.

San Diego State will make its first appearance of the year in a home exhibition contest against Point Loma Nazarene on Monday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m., prior to taking on UC San Diego at 1 p.m. in an afternoon season opener at Cox Arena on Saturday, Nov. 15.

The Aztecs will make their television debut in their next game on Tuesday, Nov. 18, when they play host to preseason top-25 pick and 2008 NIT participant Arizona State on CBS College Sports at 8 p.m. Following the national TV game, SDSU will play the final contest of a three-game season-opening homestand against longtime WAC rival Fresno State on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m.

In its first road trip of the season, San Diego State will travel to The Last Frontier to participate in the prestigious Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. The Aztecs will open the tournament against Western Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 27, and will take on either Seattle or Louisiana Tech on Friday, Nov. 29. Final-day games are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 29. Times for the annual event will be released later.

After playing three games in three days, SDSU will have three days off before playing at Northern Colorado on Wednesday, Dec. 3, before returning home for a 7 p.m. game against 2008 NCAA Tournament participant San Diego on Saturday, Dec. 6 (The Mtn.).

The road doesn't get any easier for San Diego State as it will travel to Tucson for the second straight year for a date with another NCAA Tournament team from a year ago in Arizona (Wednesday, Dec. 10) before taking on Saint Mary's on Saturday, Dec. 13, in the John R. Wooden Classic. The Gaels defeated Aztecs a year ago in the same event before advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

Following its run through three straight 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, SDSU returns home to the friendly confines of Cox Arena to face NIT participant and Big West Conference regular-season champion UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 1 p.m. on The Mtn. Then in the non-conference finale, the Aztecs will welcome another Big West school to Montezuma Mesa as Cal State Northridge will face SDSU at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 22. The Matadors finished in a three-way tie for the regular-season crown with the Gauchos and Cal State Fullerton.

With the pre-league slate out of the way, San Diego State will open Mountain West play on Saturday, Jan. 3, at Air Force before taking on Utah in the home conference opener on Saturday, Jan. 10, which will be televised by VERSUS at 1 p.m.

After its game with the Utes, San Diego State will play four of its next six on the road. A date with Wyoming (Jan. 14, 6 p.m., The Mtn.) opens the tough stretch with a home game against New Mexico on Wednesday, Jan. 21 (7:30 p.m., The Mtn.) to follow.

Reigning MWC regular-season champion Brigham Young awaits SDSU as the Aztecs will travel to Provo for a Saturday, Jan. 24, game to air on The Mtn. San Diego State will make its second CBS College Sports appearance at home when it takes on TCU on either Tuesday, Jan. 27 or Wednesday, Jan. 28. The final day and time will be announced at a later date.

The six-game test will conclude with a pair of tough road contests at Colorado State and at UNLV, both of which will be on The Mtn. The Aztec-Ram contest is set for Saturday, Jan. 31, while the SDSU-UNLV showdown will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

For the second time in four games and third time overall, San Diego State will appear on CBS College Sports as it will play host to Air Force on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. to open the second half of league action. Next in line for the Aztecs is a trip to Salt Lake City as they will oppose Utah at Huntsman Center on Wednesday, Feb. 11, before returning home for a Valentine's Day game against Wyoming at 7 p.m. on The Mtn. (Saturday, Feb. 14).

Following the home matchup with Wyoming and a road contest at New Mexico, which will be on VERSUS (Saturday, Jan. 21), San Diego State will play three of its last four games of the season at Cox Arena.

The important stretch will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 24, against Brigham Young at 7:30 p.m. on The Mtn., which will be followed by a quick trip to TCU on Saturday, Feb. 28 (The Mtn.), setting up the Aztecs' final two home games of the year.

San Diego State will then play host to Colorado State on Wednesday, March 4, beginning at 7 p.m., in a contest televised by The Mtn. As the Rams depart Cox Arena, UNLV will take their place as the Runnin' Rebels will make their annual visit on Saturday, March 7, in the regular-season finale and Senior Day game on CBS College Sports at 7 p.m.

Other schedule notes:
* - Not including the Great Alaska Shootout or Division II UC San Diego, the other eight opponents on SDSU's non-conference schedule posted a 156-103 record (60.2 percent) last season. Six of those nine teams won at least 19 games during the 2007-08 season.
* - Of the five Division I non-conference opponents coming to Cox Arena this season (remember SDSU still has one home game left to get), four won at least 20 games last season (UCSB 23, San Diego 22, Arizona State 21 and Cal State Northridge 20).
* - When San Diego State plays host to UC San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 15, it will mark the first time the Aztecs have opened a campaign at Cox Arena in four seasons. SDSU opened the 2004-05 campaign at home against UC Santa Barbara (ot-L, 72-80), but opened each of the last three campaigns in an exempt event (2005-06 BP Top of the World Classic, 2006-07 Shamrock Invitational and 2007-08 World Vision Classic.
* - The Aztecs will be looking to win their fourth consecutive season opener for the first time since winning four straight from 1993-94 to 1996-97.
* - For just the second time in 31 seasons San Diego State will open the campaign with three consecutive home games. The Aztecs opened 2004-05 season with home games against UC Santa Barbara, Monmouth and UC San Diego. This season, SDSU will open with UCSD, Arizona State and Fresno State.
* - San Diego State will play in the Great Alaska Shootout for the first time in school history. It does mark the second trip to Alaska for the program in the last four seasons. SDSU went 2-1 in the BP Top of the World Classic in November, 2005. That marks the last time the Aztecs dropped a game in an exempt event. SDSU has won seven straight games in exempt events dating back to a semifinal round loss to Illinois-Chicago in the Top of the World Classic.
* - San Diego State will play in the prestigious Wooden Classic for the second consecutive season. Once again this year, the Aztecs will battle Saint Mary's in the event.
* - Of the 10 evening home games with times currently set, nine start at 7:30 p.m. PT or before, including seven at 7 p.m. That is a drastic change from last season when the Aztecs played six home games at 8 p.m. PT.
* - The Aztecs will play five of their first eight Mountain West Conference games on the road. The backhalf of the league schedule will reverse that trend, with SDSU playing five of eight games at Cox Arena, including three of the last four and the final two contests at home.
* - San Diego State will end the regular season at home against UNLV. It will mark the first time the Aztecs have ended conference play against the Rebels since the 2002-03 season.