The San Diego State Aztecs (5-0, 0-0 MWC) welcome the Tennessee State Tigers (3-2, 0-0 OVC) to the Viejas Arena for the annual Nike N7 game, in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
This will be the first time in the history of both programs that San Diego State and Tennessee State will play each other in men’s basketball. The Aztecs are 3-0 against the Ohio Valley Conference. Their most recent game against the OVC came in 2017 when they defeated Eastern Illinois at home, 94-63.
The San Diego State Aztecs are coming off a dominant win over Long Island on Friday in which they rode a 43-point second half to a 81-64 victory. Matt Mitchell scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half. Sophomore forward Nathan Mensah led in rebounds (7) and junior guard Malachi Flynn led in assists (10).
Through five games in the 2019-20 season, the Aztecs have had five different players lead the team in points scored in a single game (Flynn, Schakel, Mensah, Wetzell, Mitchell).
Flynn leads the Aztecs with 13.8 points and 6.2 assists per game. Mensah leads the team with 8.6 rebounds per game.
The Tennessee State Tigers opened the season with a demanding 106-66 win over Alabama A&M and they went 2-2 after that.
Their most recent game came Thursday against No. 12 Texas Tech in their worst loss of the season. From the bench, junior guard Ravel Moody received 18 minutes on the court and shot 2-for-2 from the three-point line and went 6-for-8 on the free throw for a career-high 12 points.
The Tigers’ best shooter through the first five games, sophomore guard Carlos Marshall Jr., has recorded 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. But his 44.6% field goal percentage is six points below the team’s average (51.0%).
With an average of 18 minutes of playing time per game, Ohio-native Shakem Johnson leads Tennessee State with a .875 shooting percentage (21-24) and is among the top five on the team with nine points per game.
The Tigers lead the Aztecs in field goal percentage (51.0), points (79.6) and blocks (4.6) per game. However, the Aztecs are better by a significant amount in points against (57.4), as well as rebounds (41.2), assists (17.8) and steals (7.0) per game.
San Diego State and Tennessee State will battle it out in their first meeting with each other from Viejas Arena in America’s Finest City at 7 p.m. for tip-off.