One thing about the San Diego State men’s basketball team: these guys don’t play a pretty brand of ball.

Anyone craving an endless array of thundering alley-oop dunks or three-pointers drained from all over the court had best find another squad to watch.

In short, the Aztecs play ugly. And guess what? It works well. Very, very well , despite the derth of highlight-reel action.

“We’re a good team,’’ said coach Steve Fisher. “We have to do it in a different way. We’re not going to overpower you, but we’re going to fight all the way. We’re going to make good decisions.’’ Fisher’s grinders are coming off two gut-it-out wins, a 57-44 victory over Air Force at Viejas Arena, preceded by a 75-70 triumph over a talented New Mexico team, coming back from a 10 point deficit on the road.

These victories allowed the Aztecs (17-2, 3-0 in the Mountain West, 10 wins in a row) to move up three spots, to 13th in the latest Associated Press poll.

If that doesn’t sound impressive, consider that this ranking puts SDSU ahead of St. Mary’s (and the Bay Area’s Gaels are really good), traditionally solid programs such as Kansas State, Wisconsin and Indiana, not to mention the defending national champions known as Connecticut. “We’re 17-2 and 3-0,’’ Fisher said. “That’s pretty good.’’

The USA Today/ESPN poll puts SDSU in the No. 12 spot. What hurts the Aztecs in either poll is their Ratings Percentage Index (or RPI), which measures strength of schedule. In this department, San Diego State is an uninspiring 26th.

Still, despite the loss of D.J. Gay, Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas (the latter two are with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs), the Aztecs could even be better than last year’s 34-3 team.

But the battle to gain a foothold on the national scene (read: getting some regular “run” on ESPN) continues.

“It’s a motivation (thing) a little bit, just to prove another fan wrong,’’ said guard Chase Tapley of losing the big three. “They are all great players and aren’t going to be replaced. “We have a great team this year, too. We can’t worry about the doubters. We have to have everything take care of itself. This year’s goal was to keep moving up in the rankings, and that’s what we’re striving for.’’

The play of guard Xavier Thames, a Washington State transfer, has been helping make that quest possible. Thames is averaging 11.2 points and a team-leading 5.1 assists per game.

The Aztecs have also been getting serviceable grunt work from Garrett Green. Formerly of Louisiana State, the 6-foot-11 Green is averaging 6.8 points and tops the team with 5.6 rebounds a game, the only big man in an otherwise all-guard lineup.

Of Thames, Tapley said, “He has brought a lot (to the team). X can penetrate, get into the lane and really attack. He is a great point guard and has that resilient heart.’’ Tapley isn’t the only one with that quality, or the Aztecs wouldn’t be this successful with a top-flight post presence.

“We’re a small team right now,’’ said guard Jamaal Franklin, but we play like we are big.’’

SDSU had best keep that if it wants to move up in the national rankings, and the next two games should be really interesting. The Aztecs travel to Wyoming on January 24, then mosey on to Fort Collins to meet Colorado State four days later.

Those road games against the northern schools are often tough on the Aztecs. High altitude, sometimes difficult travel, bitterly cold weather (you think Green or Tapley want to be in Laramie in late January?) make for a battle of a game, even if the opponent isn’t that good.

Luckily, no doubt thanks to Fisher, SDSU’s players have adopted an attitude of, 'Let’s just win the game and get out of this far-flung place.'

“We’ve got a group that was part of winning on the road a year ago,’’ Fisher said. “And we’ve been a program that’s not shied away from playing good people and winning our share of important road/neutral games.’’

There will be nothing neutral about the site of the two games after the road trip: Boise State and Texas Christian at Viejas. Frankly, it would be a capital crime if the Aztecs didn’t sweep these four games to move up to 21-2, even if the wins aren’t high art.

Fisher and the Aztec players know this, though they don’t want to big-time anyone just yet. “We’ve done a pretty good job of not allowing success to go to our heads,’’ Fisher said.