Aztecs vs. Long Beach State

Records: SDSU 4-2; Long Beach State 2-4

Series history: SDSU leads 38-22. The Aztecs have won six straight and 14 of the last 15. The last Long Beach State win was in 1998.

Aztecs update: The game features a contrast in tempo and style. Long Beach State is averaging 74.3 points and allowing 86.8, compared with SDSU’s 62.5 and 59.7. Beach is 12th nationally in average length of possession (15 seconds); SDSU’s opponents are 354th (19.4 seconds). Beach is shooting 48.1 percent; SDSU is holding teams to 38.4 percent. Matt Bradley (13.2) and Trey Pulliam (10.0) are the only players averaging double figures, but both are shooting under 40 percent overall. Bradley, a career 40 percent marksman beyond the arc, is 3 of 20 from deep. Another alarming SDSU stat: 61 total assists and 69 turnovers. The turnover number actually is decent (11.5 per game), but the assists are down because of all the missed shots. The Aztecs have finished four straight seasons with more assists than turnovers (82 more in 2020-21, 130 more in 2019-20). SDSU has won 22 straight against schools currently in the Big West and held them under 60 points in 15 of those. The USC loss Friday snapped a streak of 16 straight wins against teams from the state of California.

Beach update: The wins are against Idaho State and Wright State, the losses against UCLA (100-79), Utah Valley, Missouri State and Murray State. They have already played two overtime games, going 1-1. Coach Dan Monson is in his 15th season with a 219-234 career record at Beach and five straight losing seasons. The leading scorer is 6-0 junior Joel Murray (18.5 points), including a 30-point effort at UCLA. Joe Hampton, a 6-8 senior, averages 14.4 points and had a double-double (22 points, 10 rebounds) off the bench last week against Wright State. Hampton committed to Penn State but never played there, then spent a season at Pasadena CC and another at East Los Angeles College, where he was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U.” Two freshmen start: Jadon Jones and Aboubacar Traore from Ivory Coast. UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State all play in San Diego against all three of the city’s Div. I programs. Beach is at USD on Dec. 20 and at UCSD on Jan. 20. Beach was picked eighth in the Big West preseason coaches poll and seventh in the media poll.

Next up: at No. 24 Michigan on Saturday (10 a.m. PST, Ch. 8)