San Diego State (6-3) vs. No. 1 Arizona (10-0) | Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix. | 8:30 p.m. (approx.) | ESPN2 | 1290-AM
Probable starters
ARIZONA
0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)
5 G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)
18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)
0 F Koa Peat (6-8 freshman)
13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)
Key reserves
3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)
30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)
2 F Dwayne Aristode (6-8 freshman)
SAN DIEGO STATE
3 G Elzie Harrington (6-5 freshman)
21 F Miles Byrd (6-6 junior)
39 F Reese Dixon-Waters (6-5 senior)
40 F Miles Heide (6-9 junior)
1 C Magoon Gwath (7-0 sophomore)
Key reserves
10 G BJ Davis (6-2 junior)
5 F Pharaoh Compton (6-7 sophomore)
4 G Sean Newman (6-1 senior)
24 F Taj DeGourville (6-5 sophomore)
How they match up
The series: Arizona leads SDSU 25-7 and has won the past five games, including the championship game of the 2012-13 Diamond Head Classic and the semifinal of the 2022-23 Maui Invitational. The teams had regular home-and-home series during the eras of coaches Lute Olson and Sean Miller, but haven't met at McKale Center since the Aztecs beat the Wildcats 61-57 during the 2011-12 season.
Game agreement: Arizona is playing SDSU as part of a three-game agreement with promotor Position Sports in which UA will receive $200,000 plus 10% of net ticket sales between $800,000 and $1.2 million. Earlier UA games against Florida and UCLA also paid UA at least $200,000 each as part of the agreement.
San Diego State overview: After barely squeaking into their fifth straight NCAA Tournament last season — then getting drummed by North Carolina in the First Four — the Aztecs appeared back on the upswing entering this season. They returned six of their top nine players and were favored to win the Mountain West in its final go-round in the conference, but have underperformed expectations so far.
The Aztecs lost at home in double overtime to Troy in their third game of the season to knock themselves off the national radar, then lost to Michigan and Baylor in the Players Era Festival. They managed to beat Oregon at the Las Vegas event and have since won three home games, including their Mountain West opener on Wednesday against Air Force.
Known for a rugged defensive style that helped put Keshad Johnson and the 2022-23 Aztecs into the NCAA title game, before Johnson transferred to Arizona the next season, SDSU has ranked among the top 16 teams in defensive efficiency each of the past four seasons.
But it has slipped slightly so far this season. The Aztecs rank 52nd in defensive efficiency, allowing opponents to shoot 49.5% from two-point range (ranking 114th in two-point percentage defense), and they are an average rebounding team. Still, they are active, stealing the ball on 21.4% of opponents’ possessions (ranking 24th nationally) and blocking 15.4% of opponents’ shots (ranking 20th).
Offensively, the Aztecs shoot two-pointers at an average 51.9% rate but rank fifth nationally in 3-point percentage shooting (41.1%), even though they don’t take them that often (just 35.6% of their field goals are from behind 3-point territory).
SDSU has size and experience on the perimeter, while freshman Elzie Harrington has also been playing a big role on and off the ball. He averages 8.6 points and 2.7 assists, while hitting 11 of 15 3-pointers. Graduate transfer Sean Newman (Louisiana Tech) has mostly come off the bench at point guard, leading SDSU in assists (3.1).
On the wing, junior Miles Byrd is an active two-way player who ranks nationally in both steal (3.5) and block (2.8) percentages, while DJ Davis has moved from a starting role last season to the bench — where he leads SDSU in scoring (13.3) and ranks 22nd nationally in 3-point percentage (53.3), making 16 of 30 long-range shots. Dixon-Waters averages 11.0 points a game but had just two points on 1-for-8 shooting Wednesday against Air Force.
The Mountain West’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, 7-footer Magoon Gwath, has been working his way back from April knee surgery, missing the first two games of the season but starting the past six. He’s blocked 12 shots over seven games, for a block percentage of 12.0 and scores at a 56.8% rate from two-point range. Starting power forward Miles Heide is also a force inside, blocking 3.2% of opponents’ shots and shooting 62.5% from two-point range.
He said it: “I think they're starting to settle into the rotations. They’re starting to figure it out. When you’ve got 11 guys that can play, it can get a little difficult at times. We are starting to see signs of them becoming the team that everybody thought they would be.
“(At point guard) they’re using Harrington, and they have Newman off the bench, but in their offense, it’s point guard by committee. Byrd and Dixon-Waters, those guys are always looking to attack, and everybody on the perimeter, you have to be ready to guard. Those guys have a lot of freedom, and their offense gives them space to operate.
“(Playing Davis off the bench) is why they're becoming a better team. In a sense, it’s no different from Delly (Anthony Dell'Orso). Delly has been a starter. Davis has been a starter, but the way their team flows, he's providing a surge of energy, points and even defense. He’s settled into that role and he's thriving in that role.
“(Byrd) was leading them in assists and steals to start the season. His shot-making probably isn't 100% but he has the ability to go off for 20. BJ Davis can go off for 20, Reese Dixon-Waters can go off for 20. Harrington is playing well, and Magoon can have a big game.
“Their defensive numbers aren't as good as their 2023 Final Four team, but they create chaos, and they have a culture. You can see guys like (senior forward) Jeremiah Oden coming off the bench, trying to play a Keshad Johnson role, high energy and tough, a Swiss Army knife. These guys are good, man.” — UA assistant coach Brandon Chappell, who scouted the Aztecs
Key players
SAN DIEGO STATE
Miles Byrd
San Diego State guard Miles Byrd dribbles the ball during the first half against Utah Valley, Dec. 3, 2025, in San Diego.
A possible NBA Draft pick had he not returned to SDSU last summer, the versatile wing instead became the Mountain West’s Preseason Player of the Year. Once an Arizona recruiting target, Byrd was a second-team all-Mountain West pick and a member of the league’s all-defensive team last season. He’s filling box scores again this season.
ARIZONA
Motiejus Krivas
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas (13) earns two points for the Wildcats during the game against Abilene Christian at McKale Center, Dec. 16, 2025.
After missing most of last season with a foot injury, and starting this season quietly offensively, the Lithuanian 7-footer is averaging 14.3 points over his last four games and posted his first-career double-double (14 points, 14 rebounds) against Alabama last Saturday. But he’ll need to impose his will against the lighter, but rangier, Gwath inside.
Sidelines
Hometown hero
The Arizona-SDSU game will be the third that the Wildcats have played in Phoenix under Lloyd, after the Wildcats beat Alabama there in 2023-24 and lost to UCLA last season, and Lloyd said he would like to play one game there every season.
But this season, there’s another reason: The chance to bring Chandler forward Koa Peat home after a standout start to his freshman season.
“I'm sure everybody will be there, coming out and supporting me,” Peat said. “All the people that came to my games, recorded my games, my coaches, probably my family, everybody will there supporting me. But you take it like any other game. You go in there with preparation, go out there to win a game, and just treat it like every other game."
Peat has appeared to have an even-keeled approach all season so far, and Lloyd indicated he didn’t expect that to change, even with the opportunity to play at the Phoenix Suns’ home in front of friends and family.
“Koa and I don't need to have those conversations,” Lloyd said. “He's been in the spotlight for a number of years now. He understands that when and where he plays, the level of interest might be heightened and, he's always performed.
“It's another basketball game. For Koa, it just happens to be in Phoenix, and his first time playing with the University of Arizona in Phoenix, but I don't see any reason to make it anything more than it really is.”
Hall of Famers
Arizona may be setting a record this season for playing in the most games branded by the Basketball Hall of Fame: First, the "Hall of Fame Las Vegas" doubleheader (Florida on Nov. 3), then the "Hall of Fame Los Angeles" game (UCLA on Nov. 14) and now the "Hall of Fame Phoenix" doubleheader.
In between the first two games, the Wildcats actually stopped over at the actual Basketball Hall of Fame, in Springfield, Mass, just about an hour’s drive from UConn, where the Wildcats played a true away game on Nov. 19.
“Obviously, the Basketball Hall of Fame is iconic,” Lloyd said. “They’re definitely trying to build their outreach across the country. We have a very good relationship with Position Sports (the promoter), which has a relationship with the Hall of Fame, and it’s been a great partnership for all of us.
“We went an extra day early (to UConn) so we could go visit the Hall of Fame in Springfield. I'd never been in it and I think it was a great experience for us. Anytime we can honor the game, and honor the history of the game is something that we want to participate in.”
COVID flashback
Colorado is arriving in Phoenix after playing a weird COVID-style game Wednesday at the CU Events Center, where fans weren’t allowed to watch them beat Portland State because of extreme winds and blackouts in the area.
That resulted in the same sort of cardboard “fans” in the stands that were common in 2020-21, this time with former Buff standouts KJ Simpon and Cody Williams joining several animated South Park characters in the gold seats of the Events Center.
“I would’ve liked to let (in) people who wanted to brave the wind,” Boyle said, according to Buffzone.com. “But I think there’s bigger things involved when you talk about law enforcement and crowd control and that sort of thing. So I understand the decision, but it’s unfortunate.”
Numbers game
8: SDSU’s national ranking in percentage of minutes played by reserves (45.6%), according to a Kenpom calculation that doesn’t include players who have played in less than 10% of their team’s minutes.
10: SDSU’s national ranking in minutes continuity, a Kenpom metric that measures what percentage of a team’s minutes are played by the same player from last season to this season.
105: Arizona’s ranking in minutes continuity.
213: Arizona’s ranking in percentage of minutes played by reserves (31.7)
— Bruce Pascoe
