San Diego State faces one of the toughest teams in the country – San Diego Union-Tribune – in Las Vegas

SDSU vs. No. 6 Houston

When: Saturday, 4 p.m

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

On air: TNT; 760 p.m

Series history: SDSU leads 2-1. Houston won their last meeting 67-65 in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Aztec update: The last of arguably the toughest four-game stretches in program history, from No. 3 Gonzaga (an 80-67 loss) to No. 21 Creighton (a 71-53 win) to soon-to-be Oregon (a 78). -68 loss) against No. 6 Houston. “This is a chance to get another win against a team that is ranked in the top 10 in the country,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “We don’t get that many opportunities. We have to look forward to it and embrace it.” If they hope to win, they’ll have to bounce back better than they did against Oregon. They lost the battle on the boards 41-24 and are outnumbered 18-4 on second chances. Houston doesn’t start with a 7-footer like Creighton and Oregon, but its front line is long, strong, physical, athletic and tough. On the other hand, SDSU must find ways to score by pushing the offense toward midfield and aggressively attacking the ball screens. They also need to get more production from their bigs, none of whom are among the team’s top five in scoring, and an outsized share of turnovers from players who don’t handle the ball regularly. The Aztecs are currently ranked No. 45 in Kenpom and are expected to lose 68-59 on Saturday.

Cougars update: They entered the Players Era Festival ranked No. 1 in the Kenpom metric and have since slipped to No. 3 after suffering an 85-80 overtime loss to Alabama on Tuesday and a 65-54 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday . This is essentially the same team that went 32-5 and was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, then lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 after leading scorer Jamal Shead sprained an ankle. Four more starters are back: LJ Cryer (13.5 points), Emanuel Sharp (13.0), J’Wan Roberts (10.2) and Ja’Vier Francis. Oklahoma transfer guard Milos Uzan was also added. And the bench is 10 or 11 deep most nights. The Cougars are known for their defense, currently ranked No. 3 in defensive efficiency by Kenpom and holding opponents to 57.0 points, but their offense isn’t bad either. They have finished in the top 25 in offensive efficiency over the last six seasons and now rank 14th, largely because they are making 41.8% of their threes.

Next: Wednesday at Fresno State (7:30 p.m., FS1)

–MARK ZEIGLER