Colorado Buffaloes vs San Diego State Aztecs
WHEN: Saturday, November 7, 2026, 12:30 PM PST | 3:30 PM EST
WHERE: Pechanga Arena, San Diego, CA | Bill Walton Classic
TV: USA Network
RADIO: San Diego Sports 760
SERIES RECORD: San Diego State tied 3-3
LAST MATCH: San Diego State 78, Cal State Fullerton 72 (1976)
ODDS: Spread: SDSU -2.5 | Total: 155.5
The inaugural Bill Walton Classic tips off this Saturday, November 7 at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena. Billed as A new college basketball experience, the festival has been proceeded with a blood drive, a happy hour and a concert at the arena of Walton’s favorite band he played along with.
The community gathering is a celebration of San Diego’s basketball legend and an honor for SDSU to headline as the marquee matchup. Having said that, this is certainly in line to be a big challenge for the Aztecs.
The ‘home team’ Aztecs are coming off a successful opener against CSU Fullerton Tuesday night, 102-78. It was definitely a much cleaner presentation of what Brian Dutcher hopes to have from his new team of transfers and overseas additions. Six players scored in double-figures and the offense was flowing. But there is still a lot to work on defensively.
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The Buffaloes meanwhile took care of visiting Abeline Christian, 94-59. In a similar tone to the SDSU game, the Buffaloes found themselves trailing the Wildcats late in the 1st half. That was until Barrington Hargress knocked down a 3 pointer to beat the buzzer and the Buffs took the lead into the break.
From then on out CU properly destroyed the opposition in the 2nd half, outscoring ACU 58-25. That is impressive.
Get to Know the Buffaloes
CU is led by head coach Tad Boyle now in his 17th season in Boulder. Boyle is the all-time winningest coach in Buffs men’s basketball history and has led CU to 10 20-game winning seasons, as well as 6 NCAA Tournament births.
Although under Boyle CU has only advanced as far as the round of 32, his leadership and guidance as head coach has solidified a consistent and quality output most years, despite being a school that focuses largely on football. Bottom line, with their heading to the Big12 Conference, the Buffs may be better than their history gives them credit for.
He has two assistants that SDSU fans will likely know well, the first ex NBA veteran Danny Manning of Kansas Jayhawks fame and his time on the Los Angeles Clippers. And Bill Grier, the former USD head coach spent 8 years leading the Torreros and most notably spent over a decade as an assistant with Gonzaga alongside Mark Few and Dan Monson.
At the point guard spot is Barrington Hargress. In his fifth year the UC Riverside transfer stands at 6’1″ and is lightning quick. Hargress now is in his 2nd season with CU, finished his first year starting all 33 games and averaging 14.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per contest.
His 11 points and 4 assists last week should be a pace SDSU hopes to keep him at. Last season he won the team’s MVP, so he is the undisputed leader in the locker room. His assist to turnover ratio is one of the best in the Big12, and wether he is scoring or not the offense runs through him primarily.
Last week it was Jalin Holland, a 6’5″ sophomore out of New Mexico that put up 18 points against ACU and shot 8 of 12 from the field. He also showed himself capable of crashing the boards grabbing 6 rebounds in the lopsided victory.
Fellow wing players Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders are both 6’5″ – 6’6″ capable scorers that are good complimentary pieces around Hargress that fly around and attack on both sides of the ball. Sanders had horrible freshman year shooting the three point shot and mostly stayed at attacking. Inman on the other hand shot nearly 37% and has the confidence to let it fly.
At the forwards are Justin Neely the UNC Greensboro transfer who brings a big motor and defensive experience and David Gomez a Spain national who brings size and flexibility to support their big man.
Speaking of the five spot, there is Noah Feddersen. Standing at 6’10” 235, Feddersen is long, athletic, and tweener that just might give Bear Cherry more trouble than CSU Fullerton was able to. Though he gives up nearly 30 pounds to Cherry, Feddersen’s maturity and awareness will be something to watch if he can help create spacing for Hargress to get to the lane against the Aztecs defense.
It’s definitely an interesting and pretty even matchup between two programs that have not faced each other in many decades. For the Aztecs they should have the playmakers to get the job done. But that is assuming the team can stay focused on their recent cohesion together offensively.
Defensively, this is a much more difficult task than CSU Fullerton. Capable scorers in bigger, more athletic bodies for CU is going to give the Aztecs defense fits at times. Unforced errors and turnovers cannot be a theme for Dutcher’s offense.
How These Teams Will Win
Colorado wants to attack to the rim first. They will shoot the 3-ball and are capable as they hit 53% last week. But CU won’t just fling up shots for the sake of reaching a number. If they can execute half court offense cleanly and get Bear Cherry in foul trouble, it may be a long day for the Aztecs.
SDSU must be disciplined on defense and not blow assignments repeatedly. With that, on offense it will be interesting to see how much the flow will be through Bear Cherry down low, allowing Latrell Davis to have the green light, and can Elzie create for himself and others. Bottom line it all starts with defense for the Aztecs.
There shouldn’t be any home cooking in fouls as this is a neutral game sight. Will the Aztecs faithful show up and create a home court environment as this game should have been designated for?
At the moment ticket sales seem to be underwhelming and in danger of not providing that atmosphere. If the arena is painted red & black however, it could be the difference in guiding momentum towards a 2-0 start for the Aztecs.
Prediction:
San Diego State – 85
Colorado – 79
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