The Jeff Jacobs JAM Center breaks ground at SDSU

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – San Diego State University broke ground Wednesday on its basketball practice facility, which will be named after major donor Jeff Jacobs.

The $14.5 million Jeff Jacobs JAM Center, which will provide practice space for the men’s and women’s basketball programs, will also honor donors Hal and Debby Jacobs, Steve and Lisa Altman and Jim Morris — the first letters of their last names making up the JAM acronym.

The facility will contain two full-length courts, eight baskets, locker rooms, film rooms, team lounges, an athletic training room and coaches’ locker rooms.

The Manna Charitable Foundation and the Walter and Betty Zable Foundation were also major contributors to the project. SDSU said about $2 million still needs to be raised, but no state funds will be used to construct the building.

“We’re at a significant moment in the history of San Diego State athletics really stepping forward on a national stage,” school President Elliot Hirshman said. “What the new JAM Center will do is continue this momentum.”

The Aztec men put together a 31-5 record in the 2013-14 season, won the Mountain West regular season championship and advanced to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Tournament.

The ceremony provided some good news on a day in which U-T San Diego reported that prized freshman recruit Zylan Cheatham will undergo surgery for a broken bone in a foot, and could miss three to four months, comprising practice time and part of the upcoming season.