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San Diego State Basketball: Skylar Spencer is the king of the block

Skylar Spencer's defense has improved every year of his Aztec career. If his offensive game follows suite, watch out.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sp

San Diego State forward Skylar Spencer has enjoyed a fair amount of success in his short time as an Aztec. After seeing significant improvement between his first and second season, fans are anxious to see what he might do with his third.

In his first year, Spencer set a Mountain West record for most shots blocked by a freshman with 51. Last year, he set an SDSU single-season block record with 89. As far as anyone on Montezuma Mesa is concerned, he's the real Sultan of Swat.

Spencer averaged 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds during his 2013-2014 sophomore campaign and led the team with his 56.9 percent shooting from the field. Lag on the offensive side was subsidized with defensive expertise, but this season there will be more opportunities for the 6-foot-10 lefty to assert himself.

Scoring and rebounding are two areas of Spencer's game that call for improvement. Although the Aztecs' two leading minute-getters in Xavier Thames and Josh Davis are gone, a deeper bench rotation means that Spencer might only see a three-to-five minute per game jump in playing time. His 23.8 minutes per game average last season was fifth highest on the team.

The void left by Davis, the Aztecs' leading rebounder, offers Spencer more chances to get involved on the boards. And without last year's leading scorer and primary offensive aggressor, Xavier Thames, there should be plenty more shots available, as well. Spencer finished eighth on the team in field goal attempts with 130 and his fourth-best 156 rebounds were less than half of the 342 boards hauled in by Davis.

Defense is what you can rely on from Spencer. He prides himself on his defensive prowess like most shot blockers do. However, if Spencer has improved his interior scoring capabilities this off-season, he could emerge as one of the scariest two-way players in the conference.

Miss out on Spencer's sophomore season block party? Watch it here.

Video courtesy of Sean Byrd on YouTube.