After this Saturday’s 1pm matchup between San Diego State and UNLV, the Aztecs will in fact continue to own the Runnin’ Rebels into the next year.
Reported first by San Diego Union-Tribune’s Mark Zeigler that a deal between the two long time Mountain West rivals had been made and that they would continue to play into the next two years.
Beginning in the 2026-27 season, the first game will be played at Viejas Arena in San Diego. The following 2027-28 season the return game will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The agreement ensures out of conference games for both sides as the Aztecs prepare for their exit into the Pac-12 Conference.
The agreement is a fantastic one from where we sit. Brian Dutcher has often stated that his program would not be playing at altitude after the move to the Pac-12. Scheduling UNLV is a perfect out of conference fit to avoid just that. Not to mention SDSU has dominated the series for much of the last two decades in the Mountain West.
Below you can see officially SDSU has played UNLV the 5th most games in school history. Though the Runnin Rebels won much of their games before the Steve Fisher era, SDSU has come to overtake the all-time series lead 42-38.
| Rk | Opp | G | W | L | W-L% | PS | PA | Diff | PS | PA | Diff |
|---|
| 5 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 80 | 42 | 38 | .525 | 5782 | 5676 | 106 | 72.3 | 71.0 | 1.3 |
|---|
Had you asked us ten years ago, which team would likely partner with SDSU to ascend into the then original Pac-12, UNLV would’ve been an obvious choice. UNLV is a natural rival to continue into the foreseeable future for several reasons: proximity for travel, shared recruiting territory, and the promotion of basketball in the Pacific time zone is good for everyone.
Programs like UCLA, Arizona and Oregon have avoided home & home matchups with the Aztecs and likely won’t change course when SDSU makes their move next year. There aren’t many attractive West coast programs that move the needle enough for a home & home.
Other than GCU, what other western time zone programs would you expect or anticipate SDSU to schedule strictly home & home matchups with?
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