Local Teams Hoping for Big-Time Day : College basketball: USD and USIU travel for games with ranked teams, and SDSU plays host to USC for the first time in 50 years.

Today will be something of a rarity for San Diego college basketball.

Two of the city’s three Division I men’s teams are playing top 20 opposition, and a third--San Diego State--is playing host to USC for the first time in 50 years.

The University of San Diego will start the ambitious day when the Toreros (2-4) travel to No. 13 UCLA (3-0) for a nonconference game at 1 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion. It will be USD’s second game in eight days against a top 20 team.

The challenge continues two time zones away when U.S. International (2-5) takes its high-scoring show on the road to meet No. 10 Arkansas (4-0) in a nonconference game at 5:30 p.m. PST and concludes with SDSU’s 7:30 p.m. nonconference game against USC (2-2) at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The SDSU-USC game is the first of a home-and-home series that will conclude next year and marks the Trojans’ first appearance against the Aztecs (4-2) in San Diego since 1939. USC has won all five games in the series.

Tonight’s game should be a match of strengths as the Aztecs send the inside scoring of center Marty Dow (12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game) and power forward Shawn Jamison (15.0, 6.2) against the Trojans’ Chris Munk (10.5, 10.0) and Ronnie Coleman (18.5, 7.0).

Both teams have struggled from the outside. The Trojans have made only four of 22 three-point attempts (18.2%), SDSU 23 of 67 (34.3%). But the Aztecs are coming off their most productive offensive game, an 85-75 victory over USD Wednesday in which they had four players in double figures.

The game is the last of four consecutive at home for the Aztecs, who then are off until they play at UC Irvine Dec. 16, followed by a two-game tournament at Alabama Birmingham Dec. 21-22. The Aztecs are not home again until they meet Niagara in the first round of the Texaco Star tournament.