SDSU to Play at UCLA as Full 2026-2027 Non-Conference Schedule is Released

After a very long period of watching many college basketball teams across the country release their non-conference schedules, the San Diego State Aztecs have finally revealed who they are playing, as well as when they are playing outside of the PAC12 conference.

For the most part, a lot of the games on the schedule were already revealed. For example, the games against Colorado, Iowa State, BYU, NMSU, UNLV, and Long Island were already known.

Besides those matchups, the Aztecs play against Fullerton, Bethune Cookman, Texas Southern, Montana State, UCLA, and Life Pacific. All of those games will be played at Viejas Arena or neutral sites except the UCLA game, which will be played at Pauley Pavilion. 

Overall, I think this schedule is great for San Diego State. There are a lot of games against big power conference schools that will both help the Aztecs prepare for a tough PAC12 season, as well as their strength of schedule which will help the team down the line.

When it comes to the other games against smaller schools, SDSU scheduled some solid teams to come to Viejas. New Mexico State, Life Pacific, Texas Southern, Bethune Cookman, and especially Long Island are gonna be some great teams to play against as Brian Dutcher will use these games to test certain lineups and give bench players some experience.

If one game could be a potential upset, I would say Long Island. They won the NEC and played against Arizona in the tournament at Viejas last year. Also, they’ve played against the Aztecs in Viejas arena before back in 2019. They may be smaller schools, but they are not guaranteed wins as the Aztecs fell to Troy last year which hurt their chances at making the NCAA tournament.

A big surprise that popped up on the schedule release was a matchup against UCLA in Westwood on December 29th. This is huge news, as an away game at a power five school is very good on the resume as a win would help boost the Aztecs to a higher chance of making the tournament if necessary.

Also, according to Jon Rothstein on X, this will be a home and home series and there will be a rematch at Viejas Arena during the 2027-28 season. Jon Rothstein has UCLA at 19th in his way too early rankings, which means that Mick Cronin’s Bruins could potentially be the toughest test for the Aztecs this year.