March 15, 2011
SAN DIEGO -
(2) No. 6/5 San Diego State-(15) Northern Colorado Game Notes in PDF Format | SDSU Broadcast Flip Card in PDF Format
Following A Historic Regular Season, No. 6/5 SDSU Begins NCAA Tournament Play Thursday in Tucson vs. Big Sky Champion Northern Colorado
After completing the most successful regular-season in the program's 90 years, No. 6/5 San Diego State (32-2), the second seed in the West Region, opens NCAA Tournament play on Thursday afternoon in Tucson, Ariz., against 15th-seeded Northern Colorado.
The contest will be the second of four Thursday games at McKale Center and game time is tentatively set for 1:40 p.m. MST/PDT (Arizona and California currently have the same time). The contest will be shown nationally in high definition on TNT, is available nationally on Westwood One Radio and in Southern California on AM 600 KOGO.
No team in the country has more wins than San Diego State (32) and no team has fewer losses (two) than the Aztecs, who are tied with Kansas and Ohio State for the nation's best record. SDSU is in the postseason for the sixth consecutive year, has its sixth straight 20-win season and third consecutive campaign with at least 25 victories.
San Diego State, which finished as Mountain West Conference regular-season co-champions with a 14-2 record, left little doubt who would win the tournament championship. Last Saturday, the Aztecs capped three victories in three days with a 72-54 rout of eighth-ranked Brigham Young. Senior forward Billy White posted his third career double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard reached double figures in scoring for the 12th consecutive game, which matches his career high, with 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Aztecs ended the campaign as not only one of the top teams in the national polls (sixth in the Associated Press, fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll), but in the computer ratings as well. San Diego State ended the regular-season ranked third in the RPI, fourth in the Sagarin Ratings and sixth in the Kenpom Ratings.
One reason for the Aztecs' success this season has been their stellar defense. San Diego State ranks among the nation's elite in nearly all defensive categories, including seventh in scoring defense (58.9), 17th in field-goal percentage defense (39.6 percent) and 23rd in three-point field-goal percentage defense (30.9 percent). SDSU is also among the national leaders in other categories, including fifth in fewest personal fouls per game (14.9), 10th in scoring margin (+13.2) and 13th in rebound margin (+6.7).
This marks the seventh Division I NCAA Tournament appearance for San Diego State and the second consecutive season the Aztecs have been part of the NCAA field. This marks just the second time in 41 Division I seasons in which San Diego State has advanced to consecutive NCAA Tournaments (1975 and 1976). SDSU is 0-6 lifetime in the NCAA Division I Tournament and has not won an NCAA Tournament game since claiming a victory over UC Davis in the 1968 NCAA Division II regional consolation round. On Thursday, the Aztecs' last NCAA Tournament victory will have occurred 15,713 days ago.
San Diego State and Northern Colorado are meeting for the seventh time in school history, with the Aztecs owning a 5-1 series advantage. Most recently, the teams split a home-and-home series during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, with each team winning on the other team's court.