The San Diego State men’s basketball team learned Tuesday that they will open conference play in the 2016-2017 season at home against New Mexico on New Year’s Eve.
In a scheduling quirk, Steve Fisher’s squad will also close out the upcoming regular season in Albuquerque on March 4th – more than two months after first facing the Lobos.
The way the Mountain West conference is currently constructed there are 11 basketball schools and 18 regular season conference games.
Every year, the Aztecs will play 8 conference teams twice (home and away) and the other two remaining teams only once (one home and one away).
It just so happens that this coming season, SDSU will avoid its annual trip to the high elevation of windy Laramie, Wyoming, and will not host the Boise State Broncos.
In another odd development, Fresno State will face SDSU twice in February.
The Bulldogs were the one team that gave the Aztecs fits last year and ultimately prevented them from making the NCAA tournament by upsetting SDSU in the MW conference championship game a few months ago.
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The non-conference schedule is still in flux, but SDSU will host cross-town rival USD, and will play at Loyola (Chicago) on December 3rd as part of the Mountain West vs Missouri Valley conference.
The Aztecs will also try to get some revenge against Dan Majerle and his Lopes in a trip to Grand Canyon University and around Christmas they will join Utah, Hawaii, and Stephen F. Austin in an 8-team tournament called the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
SDSU associate head coach/head-coach-in-waiting Brian Dutcher told NBC 7 Tuesday that the program plans to play at least one Pac-12 school this coming season as well.
