San Diego State men’s basketball head coach Steve Fisher knows all about recovering from tough losses.

In his last 11 defeats, SDSU is 10-1 in the next game and has gone 35 straight games without consecutive losses.

After falling to Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Saturday, Fisher will get the chance to continue that trend.

But this time, it will be a little harder than in the past.

The Aztecs host No. 14 Arizona at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in Cox Arena in the second game of the San Diego SLAM.

With a win, SDSU (8-1) would show it’s easily recovered from its first loss. It would also win the biggest game on its regular season schedule.

“We will have our hands full to make it 11 out of 12 responding from a loss,” Fisher said. “Good teams find ways to come back and learn and grow and not feel sorry for themselves and make excuses.

“Our goal now is to get better, play better and find a way to beat arguably the best team that we will play all season in Arizona.”

Added senior forward Mohamed Abukar: “It’s a game we feel like we need to win. As far as exposure and notoriety, those are all things we look forward to. But we feel a win is a win, and it’s another game for us. We feel like we need to get this win no matter who it’s against.”

But that might be easier said than done.

All five of the Wildcats’ (5-1) starters are averaging double digits in points and almost five rebounds per game. Additionally, Arizona freshman forward Chase Budinger – a former prep standout at La Costa Canyon High School in north San Diego County – returns as the Wildcats’ leading scorer and rebounder (19.8 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game).

“We are athletic enough to where we can guard this team,” Fisher said. “We have to got to make sure we don’t let them outrun us and get layups, and we need to make sure that we don’t let them play volleyball until they put it back in.

“I’m not worried that we won’t be able to keep guys in front of us and guard them. We need to make sure we don’t give them the easy baskets that they are so prone to get against everybody and that is by running that ball down the floor.”