SDSU to Play Hawaii for a Tournament Berth

How fired up is the San Diego State basketball team as it prepares for post-season play?

On the day before hosting a game to determine the final entry into the Western Athletic Conference tournament, the Aztecs did not practice Monday.

The team is scheduled for a shoot-around this afternoon.

Tonight, SDSU (2-14 in conference and 4-24 overall) plays host to Hawaii (2-14, 9-18) at 7:30 in the San Diego Sports Arena. It’s a battle between teams tied for eighth in the conference and will determine which will face top-seeded Texas El Paso in the tournament’s opening round Thursday at the University of New Mexico.

Is Coach Smokey Gaines, who resigned earlier this season, looking forward to his team’s “second season”?

“We’ll go and give it our all tonight,” Gaines said.

Is he looking forward to the season’s end?

“No doubt about that,” Gaines said. “It’s been a long season.”

Aztec fans--those with and without bags over their heads--will attest to that. There are many tickets available for tonight’s game.

The Aztecs averaged 1,700 for 16 home games this season, but playing at home does give the Aztecs a boost.

“We’ve won more at home than on the road,” Gaines said.

The Aztecs are 4-12 at home, 0-10 on the road and 0-2 on neutral courts this season.

SDSU gained the home-court advantage for tonight’s game by virtue of a tie-breaker. The Aztecs and Hawaii split two meetings this season, each winning at home, but SDSU’s other conference victory came against a higher-seeded team. Hawaii beat sixth-seeded Colorado State and the Aztecs upset fifth-seeded Utah, 75-62, at home Saturday night.

“We played our best game of the year against Utah,” Gaines said. “There was a lot of emotion in the locker room before the game. It was a combination of things.”

The Aztecs’ victory against Utah and BYU’s 100-80 victory over Hawaii Saturday night combined to force the Rainbows to travel to San Diego. Hawaii has lost the eighth-place qualifying game the past three seasons. This season, Frank Arnold’s club is 0-8 on the road in the WAC.