The San Diego State Aztecs begin their Pac-12 Conference era without the high expectations of a year ago but with perhaps a sense of urgency coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in program history, and with a dramatically different lineup.
The Aztecs host Fullerton State at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Viejas Arena. It's the first of five straight games in San Diego County, including two at neutral sites, before the level of competition increases substantially at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving Week.
The Aztecs are eager to atone for last year, when they were the overwhelming preseason Mountain West favorite, only to stumble early and then miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons.
"I said at my last press conference after the Long Beach exhibition, it feels like we've already played a full season," said Brian Dutcher, who's entering his 10th season as head coach. "These exhibition games have such a game feel now that we're playing in front of crowds, played in Tucson, played two here in front of Viejas fans, that the sense of urgency seems to be really high, even though we haven't gotten to the opener.
"So we've been having spirited, hard-nosed practices. I feel like we're getting better, but the journey's a journey, so we'll see what we look like in the opener against a really good Fullerton team."
SDSU is projected to finish third in the nine-team Pac-12, behind Gonzaga and Utah State.
The Aztecs lost leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters to graduation and six key contributors to the transfer portal.
The two experienced players returning are guard Elzie Harrington, who started 17 of the 23 games he played, and forward Tae Simmons, who appeared in 32 games, with three starts. Guard Latrell Davis, who is coming off his redshirt season, impressed Dutcher so much in practice last year that he said the Aztecs would have been an NCAA Tournament team if he had been active.
The Aztecs have nine newcomers, led by 6-foot-10, 270-pound forward Jermiah "Bear" Cherry and three former European pros.
"As much as we want them to know everything we're doing, it's taking more time than I'd hoped, just terminology, knowing exactly what we want," Dutcher said. "When you have a carryover of a roster, there's a lot of knowledge that's already there from the year before. Every day we teach is something new, it seems like."
Dutcher tweaked his lineup for the third and final exhibition game, against Long Beach State, after using the same lineup against Arizona and USC.
Harrington and fellow guard Chance Gladden started all three exhibition games, as did Simmons and Cherry. Davis started the LBSU game in place of Isaiah Sy, who had started the first two exhibitions.
Dutcher said Harrington has been slowed after spraining an ankle against the 49ers but could start against the Titans, and that Sy "is always a day away from being back in rotation. We have talent, and that's a beautiful thing."
The Titans finished 18-16 last year, including 12-8 in the Big West.
"We know that they've hit 17 3's against San Jose, 12 3's against Fresno and 16 3's against Hope International. So any team that shoots a 3 like that is always dangerous," Dutcher said. "So we've tried to pay attention to doing a good job of guarding the line over the last week in preparation for them, but they're a dangerous team, maybe more dangerous than I wanted in the opener."
Date:Tuesday, Nov. 3
Gametime:7 p.m. PT
Where:Viejas Arena | San Diego
Howtowatch:Pac-12 YouTube
Howtolisten:San Diego Sports 760
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/san-diego-state as How to watch San Diego State vs. Cal State Fullerton basketball: Live stream, tipoff time .
