No. 22 Aztecs vs. Colorado State

Records: SDSU 21-5, 12-2 MW; CSU 12-15, 4-10

Series history: SDSU leads 49-43 and has won eight of the last 10, although one CSU victory came at Viejas Arena in 2021 after trailing by 26. The Aztecs won 82-76 in overtime in Fort Collins last month.

Rams update: Down seven inside two minutes to go Saturday, they outscored Fresno State 12-2 to close the game and pulled out a 60-57 road win. (SDSU won 45-43 at Fresno State three days earlier.) Before that, the Rams nearly knocked off Boise State in a controversial finish (they thought they were fouled on a last-second attempt from 3) and handled Air Force 69-53. Injuries have decimated the roster throughout the season and at one point left the Rams with seven healthy scholarship players. All things considered, the offense has been good — ranked 55th in the Kenpom metric and eighth nationally in the ratio of baskets that are assisted (60.3 percent). Even more impressive is that they’ve been able to average 73.4 points despite virtually no presence on the offensive glass (ranking 362nd out of 363 Div. I programs in offensive rebounding percentage). Guard Isaiah Stevens is playing at an all-conference level again, averaging 18.7 points and 6.7 assists while shooting 40.8 percent on 3s. Patrick Cartier, a Div. II transfer, averages 12.8 points and ranks ninth nationally at 65.4 percent shooting. John Tonje (13.7) is averaging 16.8 points in his last five games. The problems have come at the defensive end, where the Rams are 206th in Kenpom. They rank 10th in the MW in conference-only games.

Aztecs update: They improved in voting points (from 271 to 336) and went from being left off seven ballots to only one, yet they fell from No. 21 to 22 in the Associated Press poll released Monday. They held steady in the USA Today coaches poll at No. 20. They had their second and final bye of the conference season without a weekend game, meaning they have four left before the Mountain West Tournament: Colorado State, at New Mexico, at Boise State and Wyoming. Should they finish in a tie for first, they currently hold most tiebreakers to get the No. 1 seed. The hope with six days off is to rejuvenate an offense that had statistically its worst game of the season at Fresno State. The previous low was 60 points against Troy.

Next up: Saturday at New Mexico (7 p.m. PST, CBSSN)