Aztecs at Air Force

Records: SDSU 10-4, 4-3; Air Force 4-9, 2-7

Series history: SDSU leads 60-24 but is 10-11 at Clune Arena in the Mountain West era.

Aztecs update: Thanks to a friendly schedule and a prideful team, the last three times the Aztecs suffered consecutive losses, they rebounded with massive wins — by an average of 33.3 points. They forced 27 turnovers, most by an Air Force team since 1999, and had a 20-3 edge on the offensive boards. Five players had career highs in points, including 14 each by Aguek Arop and Adam Seiko. But buried in the stat sheet was that as well as the Aztecs shot (54.5 percent), the Falcons were even better (55 percent). That’s the highest by an opponent in an SDSU victory since 2006. Everyone practiced Saturday, including Matt Mitchell, who wore a brace on his hyperextended knee and was moving well enough to participate in most drills. He’s still listed as doubtful. Arop played only 10 minutes after suffering effects of the altitude but looked fine Saturday. The Aztecs rose in the leading metrics, most notably eight spots in the NCAA’S NET (46 to 38), ESPN’S BPI (39 to 27) and Kenpom (40 to 36).

Falcons update: Expect a far more competitive effort. In three of their four previous Mountain West series this season, they have played notably better in the second game — from 35- to 19-point losses against Utah State, from 19- to 11-point losses at Boise State, from a 16-point loss to two-point win at Nevada. “We will be a different team,” coach Joe Scott promised. One key will be keeping 6-7 senior Keaton Van Soelen, their best big, on the floor. He fouled out 20 seconds into the second half Friday with zero points in 12 minutes. Another is fellow senior Chris Joyce, who had three points in 32 minutes. The Falcons are 4-0 when Joyce scores 18 or more points, 0-9 when he doesn’t. The tactical adjustments should be interesting. Scott opened in the matchup zone they prefer but switched to straight man-to-man after the Aztecs shredded it with 70.4 shooting in the first half. The Aztecs, meanwhile, opted against playing zone as they have in previous trips to Air Force and opted for a man scheme that heavily pressured the ball.

Next up: Wyoming at home on Thursday (2 p.m., FS1)