Aztecs make slow switches and schedule matches with pepperdine

Brian Dutcher, San Diego State Basketball Coach, continues to say that “maintaining flexibility” is the key to navigating this crazy season.

And he is.

Tuesday Aztec (2-0) announced that he will be hosting Pepperdine at the Viejas Arena on Sunday at 1:30 pm. This corresponds to the fourth different upcoming opponent of the week.

Initially, they were supposed to play in St. Louis as part of the first Mountain West-Atlantic 10 Challenge series.It was abolished in October and Mountain West instead slotted a pair of conference home games with Colorado that week. Expanded schedule from 18 games to 20 games..

Since then, Colorado has shown the first two COVID-19 positivity since June. Shut down the program for 2 weeksWipe out a pair of non-conference games and two at the Viejas Arena.

Then, 13 days before the next scheduled match, Dutchner was filled with matches between two local NAIA schools, St. Catherine on Wednesday and San Diego Christian on Friday, at 25 Arizona State University on December 10. It was.

Fresno State University then stopped its third program again this fall, canceling four non-conference games, including one Saturday with Pepperdine. Waves also lost a Wednesday match against San Jose State University and was desperately looking for a replacement. Dutcher and Waves coach Lorenzo Romar answered the phone and signed the deal within a day.

San Diego Christian is out and Pepperdine is in it.

“It’s a COVID,” said Dutcher. “You have to play the person you have to play. And it’s a home video game. Even without the crowd, it had a lot to do with it. But these COVID times I think it’s good to be able to play here in the county without having to travel to. “

Dutchner said the two power conference teams had offered to play on the road for money without a return game next season. He refused.

“In the two games we led, we competed well and played well,” he said. “If we can come here with a good opponent and play in the home arena, I don’t think we need to go to the road. And we have a trip to Arizona next week, so avoid it. If possible, I wasn’t thinking of going to a series of games. “

Wave is almost not automatic W. They are familiar with the Viejas Arena (and the unique shooting background of the red seats) and participated in a four-team event last week with SDSU, UCLA and UC Irvine. They are also dangerous and will blow the University of California, Irvine on Wednesday and then take-no. 22 UCLA tripled overtime on Friday before losing 107-98.

They probably have the best guards in California in Colbeiros (23 points, 6 rebounds, 5.5 assists in 2 games), plus some big under radar. The 6-foot-8 junior forward Kessler Edwards averages 18.5 points. Kenechukuuka is a 6-9 graduate transfer from the pit. Also, former Lakers Center George Zidek’s 6-9, 240-pound son, second-year Yanjidek, can extend the floor within a three-point range from the bench.

Dutchner will face ASU, BYU and St. Mary’s before Christmas and already has a lot of difficulty in scheduling non-conferences. He admitted that he was struggling with the idea of ​​adding another, but he did.

“Obviously, we keep scheduling as many hard games as we can,” Dutchner said. “Last week we looked directly at Pepperdine against Irvine and UCLA and we know they are very good. That will be a big challenge for us.”

The NCAA allows up to 27 regular season matches in 2020-21. In short, SDSU’s schedule is full of 7 non-conference games and 20 games in Mountain West (assuming two games with Colorado State University are rescheduled late for Open Week) in February). However, if other games are canceled, San Diego Christians will remain speed dialed.

“We thank them,” said Dutchner. “Who knows, we may play them in the future as the season progresses. The game is only on hold and will be revisited later in the season depending on what happens. There is a possibility. “

The Sunday game will be broadcast locally on Channel 4 of both the YurView, Cox and Spectrum cable systems and will be streamed from the following link: www.goaztecs.com..