Aztecs vs. Saint Mary’s
Continental Tire Main Event
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Line: Aztecs by 1/2
On the air: ESPN+, 760-AM
What: The Continental Tire Main Event is a four-team nonconference tournament. Xavier and Washington meet in today’s late game at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
Records: Both teams are 2-1
Series history: Tied at 7-7, but SDSU has won three of the last four. Saint Mary’s won the most recent meeting, 68-61 last year in Phoenix.
Aztecs update: They go from opposite ends of the spectrum, from a team (Long Beach State) that pushes the tempo and takes quick shots to one that grinds through the shot clock (Saint Mary’s). The Beach played a variety of zones and presses; the Gaels stick to physical man-to-man. And the Aztecs get two practices to prepare after having four and 11 days before the previous two meetings. Their health is improving, though. Darrion Trammell played 24 minutes in Tuesday’s 88-76 win against Long Beach State after missing the final month of preseason practice with a shoulder issue. Miles Byrd (hip) and Demarshay Johnson Jr. (shoulder) sat out the last two games but are making progress. Of the two, Byrd has the best chance to play. Rebounding against the Gaels’ size will be a key. Their starting five goes 6-3, 6-4, 6-6, 6-8, 6-10 with 6-6, 6-9 and 7-1 coming off the bench. The Aztecs showed improvement in that department Tuesday, winning the battle of the boards 34-24 after being outrebounded 42-32 by BYU. SDSU is No. 31 to SMC’s 43 in the Kenpom metric, which predicts a 67-65 Aztecs victory.
Gaels update: Like SDSU, they slipped out of the major polls after blowing a 14-point lead and losing 61-57 at home against Weber State on Sunday. “Concerned, not very good there,” coach Randy Bennett said after his team turned it over 15 times and shot 5 of 27 behind the arc. “We didn’t play well enough at either end of the floor to pull that thing out.” It was a shocking result for a team picked to win the WCC ahead of Gonzaga for only the second time in 23 years. The Gaels return three starters — Aidan Mahaney, Alex Ducas and 6-10 Mitchell Saxen — from a 27-win team that won a game in the NCAA Tournament before losing 70-55 to eventual national champion UConn. Mahaney leads them in scoring at 17.0 points, and four more players are averaging between 8.3 and 11.3 points. Saxen averages 7.0 rebounds. He’s backed up by 7-1, 255-pound Harry Wessels (11.3 points, 6.3 rebounds). Bennett still has his Australian pipeline, with four members of the roster from there. G Augustas Marciulionis is a Lithuanian whose father Sarunas played for the Golden State Warriors and is a Hall of Famer.
