No. 24 SDSU at Nevada
When: 5 p.m. Friday
Where: Lawlor Events Center, Reno, Nev.
On the air: CBSSN; 760-AM
Records: SDSU is 18-5, 7-3; Nevada is 18-5, 5-4
Series history: SDSU leads 25-7 and has won 10 of the last 11. But the Aztecs are only 6-5 at Lawlor Events Center, including last year’s 75-66 loss there. The Aztecs won the first meeting this season, 71-59 at Viejas Arena.
Aztecs update: Tuesday’s 77-63 win at Air Force gave them back-to-back wins for the first time in almost a month and their first win above 4,000 feet all season. Now they head back into elevation, although Lawlor Events Center (4,608 feet) is nearly 2,500 lower than Clune Arena. The Aztecs had a 44-25 edge on the boards in the first meeting (20-7 on the offensive glass) and 15-2 in fast-break points. They also shot 15 more free throws, and it will be interesting to see how much that margin narrows with a hostile road crowd screaming at the officials. Coach Brian Dutcher has started three different lineups in his last three games, most recently going with four guards at Air Force. Nevada, however, is one of the conference’s tallest teams, starting a 6-6 point guard plus 6-4, 6-7, 6-9 and 6-10. “So much is matchups,” Dutcher said. “When you’re playing a big team, maybe we’ll have to start big again to counter what they’re doing. We’ll have to look at tape and decide what is the best lineup when we play them.” The Aztecs are 2.5-point underdogs at most sports books and projected as a 71-70 loser by the Kenpom metric.