Tipoff time revealed for San Diego State vs. Arizona basketball showdown

Aztecs, Wildcats to play on ESPN2

San Diego State Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher. | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

San Diego State’s basketball team learned more specifics Wednesday about tip times and TV networks for its marquee matchup against Arizona and many of its Mountain West games.

The Aztecs have known for months that they will play Arizona on Dec. 20 at PHX Arena in Phoenix. On Wednesday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced that tipoff will be at 7:30 p.m. PT and the game will be shown on ESPN2.

The Tecs-Wildcats series

This Hall of Fame Series showdown will be the fifth time the West Coast powers have met on a neutral court and the 33rd time overall. Arizona leads the series 25-7, including a 4-0 mark in neutral-site games.

Those four neutral site matchups have come in the last five meetings, including an 87-60 Wildcats victory in the semifinal of the 2022 Maui Invitational. The Aztecs recovered from that loss and went on to play in their first Final Four, reaching the national championship game before losing to UConn.

Jan 11, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd talks with the referee during the second half of the game against the UCF Knights at McKale Center. | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Tickets will go on sale later, but fans can sign up now for pre-sale information at HOFSeries.com.

Mountain West games

The Mountain West released its national broadcast partners for the season and three Aztecs games will air on CBS.

Those three games are all on Saturdays and on the road: at UNLV at 1 p.m. PT on Jan. 24, at Utah State at 10 a.m. PT on Jan. 31 and at New Mexico at 11 a.m. on Feb. 28.

SDSU will play on CBS Sports Network 12 times and on FS1 five times. Of the team’s 30 available games, all but six will be broadcast on national television. 

Mar 18, 2025; Dayton, OH, USA; San Diego State Aztecs forward Magoon Gwath (0) hangs from the basket in the first half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at UD Arena. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The league also announced date shifts to accommodate its television partners. Changes affecting the Aztecs are home games against Colorado State (moved to Wednesday, Jan. 28), Utah State (moved to Wednesday, Feb. 25) and the regular-season finale vs. UNLV (moved to Friday, March 6), as well as road contests at Wyoming (moved to Wednesday, Jan. 14) and at Grand Canyon (moved to Wednesday, Jan. 21).

The Aztecs’ games on CBS Sports Network, with tip times still to be set, are vs. Air Force (Dec. 17), at San Jose State (Dec. 30), vs. Boise State (Jan. 3), vs. Fresno State (Jan. 10), at Wyoming (Jan. 14), vs. New Mexico (Jan. 17), vs. Wyoming (Feb. 3), vs. Nevada (Feb. 14) vs. Grand Canyon (Feb. 17), at Colorado State (Feb. 21), at Boise State (March 3) and against UNLV (March 6).

FS1 games are at Nevada at 8 p.m. PT on Jan. 6, at Grand Canyon at 8 p.m. PT on Jan. 21, against Colorado State at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 28, at Air Force at 5 p.m. on Feb.7 and against Utah State at 8 p.m. on Feb. 25.

What’s next

The Aztecs open with home exhibition games against UCLA on Oct. 17 and San Diego on Oct. 29. 

Coach Brian Dutcher has loaded up his roster with the expectation of going further into March Madness than last year, when the Aztecs were routed by North Carolina in a First Four game.