Nov. 9, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Game Notes | SDSU Broadcast Flip Card
NEWS AND NOTES
* San Diego State opens its 96th season of basketball on Friday when it plays host to cross-town foe San Diego on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. Tip time is set for 8:05 p.m. PT and the game will air live on ESPNU and stream on WatchESPN.
* The Aztecs are receiving votes in both major college basketball polls, coming in at No. 30 in the Associated Press Top 25 with 48 points and No. 35 in the USA Today Coaches Poll (17 points).
* SDSU enters the year as the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West. The Aztecs earned 23 of a possible 27 first-place votes and 293 points in the MW preseason media poll released in mid-October. The runner-up in the poll was Nevada with 253 points and zero first-place tallies.
* San Diego State is looking to avenge last season's 53-48 loss to the Toreros. The defeat, which took place outdoors at Petco Park (home of MLB's San Diego Padres), snapped a nine-game series winning streak over USD.
* The Aztecs get the Toreros at home, a place where they are 11-1 in their last 12 games dating to last season. In fact, San Diego State has been one of the best home teams in the country, posting the eighth-best home winning percentage since the start of the 2005-06 campaign (.888; 159-20).
* During SDSU's highly successful track record at home since 2005-06, the Aztecs are 5-0 against the Toreros. The five victories are a part of a current seven-game home winning streak vs. USD. San Diego State has not dropped a home game to San Diego since Dec. 9, 2000.
* The Aztecs enter the opener having won 56 of their last 60 games vs. schools from the state of California (56-4). Against non-conference California universities, San Diego State is 46-1 in its last 47 with the lone blemish being USD last season.
* SDSU is coming off a season in which it won its Mountain West-high 10th men's basketball title by capturing the regular-season championship in 2015-16 (six regular-season titles, four tournament titles). All 10 titles have come under the direction of head coach Steve Fisher, who has won four more Mountain West titles than any other coach in league history.
* San Diego State has won the last three MW regular-season championships, book-ending a shared title in 2014-15 with outright titles in 2013-14 and 2015-16 when those squads went 16-2. Last year's team won the league by three games, which tied the largest winning margin in conference history.
* Returning off last year's team is junior guard Trey Kell, who was voted to the preseason all-Mountain West team by the media that cover the league. A season ago, the San Diego native averaged 12.6 points and 3.7 rebounds, but increased his production in conference games to 16.2 points and 4.4 rebounds.
* Also earning preseason honors at MW Media Day in Las Vegas were a pair of players who will put on an Aztec uniform for the first time in Montaque Gill-Caesar and Jalen McDaniels. Gill-Caesar was named the conference's newcomer of the year after transferring from Missouri (9.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and sitting out last year. McDaniels, meanwhile, was named the MW Co-Freshman of the Year as a four-star forward out of Federal Way, Washington.
* In addition to Kell, the Aztecs welcome back returning starters Jeremy Hemsley and Zylan Cheatham. Hemsley, the 2015-16 MW Freshman of the Year and all-MW third team selection, averaged 12.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 37 games (25 starts) as a true freshman. Cheatham, a redshirt sophomore this season, played in all 38 games last year and averaged 7.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.