SAN DIEGO — The game came together at the last minute, not long before the start of the men’s college basketball season. Michigan had an opening because its plans to host Kentucky had fallen through, and San Diego State Coach Brian Dutcher called his Wolverines counterpart, Juwan Howard, to offer to fill the gap.
Normally, this isn’t the way scheduling works. Matchups are set long in advance, marquee schools like Michigan with late openings often look to add easy wins before conference play begins and San Diego State boasts a sturdy-enough program that it usually demands home-and-home contests and rejects “buy” games in which bigger schools traditionally pay underdogs for a one-time visit instead of also agreeing to a future game at the opponent’s arena.