Saint Mary's @ San Diego St. preview
Robert A. Mott Gymnasium
Last Meeting ( Dec 1, 2010 ) Saint Mary's 55, San Diego St. 69
Two California mid-major titans will do the sensible thing Tuesday night and meet at the midway point between their campuses.
San Diego State will take on Saint Mary's in a non-conference game on the Cal State San Luis Obispo campus.
It will be a battle of one-loss teams as the Aztecs (5-1) are coming off their first setback of the season, 72-62 at home Friday against BYU. The loss dropped the Aztecs, previously No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, out of the rankings.
The Gaels (8-1) are on an eight-game winning streak after dropping their season opener, 73-56, to Memphis at Sioux Falls, S.D., on Nov. 25.
Matt Mitchell did all he could for San Diego State in the defeat to BYU. The Aztecs trailed by as many as 17 points and were down by 14 with 5:20 remaining, but Mitchell scored a career-best 35, including a dunk with 1:57 to play to make the score 61-61.
San Diego State scored just one more point the rest of the way, on a Mitchell free throw, while absorbing the defeat. The Aztecs' Jordan Schakel was just 1 of 9 from the field and finished with three points, one game after he scored a career-high 25 at Arizona State on Dec. 10. Trey Pulliam was 1 of 9 from the field against BYU.
Tuesday's game is the final non-conference test before the start of Mountain West Conference play for the Aztecs, who already have defeated two ranked Pac-12 Conference teams in UCLA and Arizona State.
"Every game we are playing is challenging, and now we are facing a team (Saint Mary's) that was picked ahead of (BYU) in the WCC standings," San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said. "We scheduled tough games, so we knew there was a chance we were going to take some lumps. Six games in, we are nowhere near what we need to be, and that is good for us."
Saint Mary's early schedule has been slightly less challenging, although the Gaels did open with Memphis and Northern Iowa.
They rebounded from the loss to Memphis to top Northern Iowa 66-64, leading to the eight-game run that was extended Saturday with a defensive-minded, 53-33 victory over Colorado State. Saint Mary's past six games have been played at home.
Not only did the Gaels hold the Rams to 25 percent shooting from the field, but Colorado State was 13.3 percent from 3-point range. Saint Mary's also had a season-high 13 steals and a 41-30 rebounding advantage.
Tommy Kuhse puts the charge in the Gaels, leading the team with 15.4 points per game, followed by Alex Ducas (10.9) and Matthias Tass (10.2). Kyle Bowen leads in rebounds with an average of 5.8 off the bench, while Kuhse contributes 6.3 assists.
"When your leader is a guy that is going to work really hard, come in every day and have great energy and attitude, everyone is going to notice that and understand that's how it's supposed to be at Saint Mary's," Gaels associate head coach Marcus Schroeder said about Kuhse. "That's what Tommy's been throughout his career, to be as good as he can possibly be."
--Field Level Media