New Mexico at San Diego State

Today, Viejas Arena (San Diego, Calif.), 9 p.m. TV: CBS Sports Network (Comcast 410, Dish 158, DirecTV 221) RADIO: 770 AM/94.5 FM; LINE: SDSU by 5½

What you need to know about the Lobos: The Lobos defense has spent two games looking elite in Mountain West play and two games getting picked apart. In two wins, the Lobos held Air Force to 0.84 points per possession on the road and held then undefeated Nevada to 0.81 points per possession (Nevada has the No. 13 ranked offense in the country among 353 Division I teams). In UNM’s two losses, the Lobos allowed UNLV to score 1.21 points per possession and the Colorado State Rams 1.23 points per possession in a game that also included 26 assists on 32 made baskets. The zone isn’t going away, but the Lobos, it would seem, will likely alter their application moving forward and mix in more man-to-man when needed, though when the team did that on Saturday in Fort Collins, the man defense was statistically even worse than the zone.

What you need to know about the Aztecs: Through three Mountain West games, the Aztecs are shooting 27.4 percent from 3-point range, the worst in conference play this season. On the season overall, however, SDSU has been much better at 36.4 percent, which ranks 73rd nationally vs. Division I opponents. Once a calling card for the Aztecs, the SDSU defense just ranks 197th in overall efficiency and opposing teams seem to get a good chunk of their points from the 3-point line (34.7 percent, which ranks 83rd among 353 DI programs). The Aztecs aren’t deep, ranking 311th in bench minutes used, though the recent move of senior guard Jeremy Hemsley to the bench will hep that number. Nevertheless, the team doesn’t often go much beyond seven players. SDSU, which has already had one of its two “bye” slots in the league’s unbalanced 18-game schedule, gets its second after this game with a week off before playing at Fresno State on Jan. 22. UNM has not yet had either of its two “bye” spots in the schedule.