Aztec MBB to Play USD at Petco Park

San Diego State will face crosstown foe USD inside Petco Park this season, the schools announced today. The annual game is set for 2 p.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 5.

"We are thrilled to team up with the Padres organization to put on a very special and unique day of basketball in San Diego," Aztecs athletics director Jim Sterk said. "Ron Fowler, Mike Dee, Jeremy Horowitz and everyone that works for the Padres have done a great job bringing the details necessary to pull off the special event we are announcing today."

"We are excited for the opportunity to bring a basketball game to Petco Park and can't wait to see the configuration for the event," SDSU head coach Steve Fisher said. "It should make for a great event in one of the most beautiful parks in the country.

"To have this event with USD is a natural," Fisher added. "These two teams playing in this venue should be a great attraction in the city, county, state and around the country."

This season's match-up will mark the 18th consecutive year the schools have met, which is the longest active series vs. any opponent for San Diego State, and first at a neutral site with no designated home team since playing at the San Diego Sports Arena on Dec. 1, 1992. SDSU has won a series-record nine games in a row, including last season's 57-48 victory inside Viejas Arena.

Winners of 12 of the last 13 meetings with the Toreros, the Aztecs own a 29-17 all-time record vs. San Diego and are 0-1 in true neutral-court contests. SDSU head coach Steve Fisher is 12-4 all-time against the Toreros.

The game at Petco Park is the first of a new five-game series with USD. In 2016-17, the game returns to Viejas Arena and will alternate between San Diego State's on-campus home and the Toreros' Jenny Craig Pavilion for the remainder of the agreement.

SDSU men's basketball 2015-16 full season ticket holders, Aztec Club members and Aztec football full season ticket holders will receive detailed advance ordering instructions via email in June. General public ticket on-sale information will be announced at a later date.

The Aztecs will return their leading scorer and rebounder in Winston Shepard and three of its top five scorers from last year (Shepard, Trey Kell and Malik Pope). SDSU will also welcome back four of its top six three-point threats (Matt Shrigley, Pope, Shepard and Kell) and five of its top seven rebounders (Shepard, Skylar Spencer, Angelo Chol, Kell, Pope), which does not include the 6-7, 210-pound Zylan Cheatham, who will be a redshirt freshman and arrived on campus last summer as part of a consensus top-15 recruiting class. Joining them will be incoming freshmen Jeremy Hemsley, the 2015 Los Angeles Times Player of the Year, and Brodricks Jones. Both are four-star players and appear on the Rivals 150 (Hemsley - No. 74, Jones - No. 101).

The Aztecs, who return three starters, will enter the upcoming campaign as the back-to-back Mountain West regular-season champions and fresh off their sixth straight NCAA tournament berth. SDSU is one of eight schools nationally to have reached the NCAAs six years in a row and one of nine programs in America to reach the Round of 32 three straight seasons. Overall, San Diego State finished 2014-15 with a 27-9 record (14-4 Mountain West), its 10th consecutive 20-win campaign and seventh straight with at least 23 victories.

For a list of the latest scheduled non-conference games, visit GoAztecs.com.