March 7, 2017
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Men's Basketball Game Notes | SDSU Broadcast Flip Card
NEWS AND NOTES (through March 5)
* San Diego State, owners of a Mountain West-best 10 men's basketball championships, begins its quest for its first tournament title since 2011 on Wednesday when the Aztecs play a road game at UNLV in the opening round of the 2017 event.
* San Diego State has won the event four times (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2011), which is tied with New Mexico for the league lead.
* Amazingly, San Diego State has played for the tournament title three straight years and in seven of the last eight seasons (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016).
* Wednesday's opening-round game features the two most successful programs in terms of winning percentage in Mountain West tournament history. UNLV owns a 26-13 record (.667, three titles), while SDSU is 25-13 (.658, four titles). Of course, UNLV has had the advantage of playing 32 of its 39 games on its home court.
* The two teams are meeting for the 10th time in the Mountain West tournament (ninth time in Thomas & Mack Center) and the Aztecs own a 7-2 advantage. SDSU has won six straight tournament meetings with the Rebels.
* This is the third time in the last four seasons the two teams have found one another in the MW bracket.
* Of the 11 teams currently in the Mountain West, San Diego State is the only one that has not played in an opening-round game, which is something the Aztecs will do on Wednesday.
* The Aztecs are the six seed for the third time in the Mountain West era (2004, 2005) and own a 1-2 record.
* Although SDSU has been the No. 1 seed on four occasions (2006, 2012, 2014 and 2016), the Aztecs have only won the event once as the top seed (2006). Other championships have been won from the No. 2 (2011), No. 4 (2010) and No. 5 (2002) positions.
* San Diego State has won the first game it has played in each of the last nine conference tournaments.
* The Aztecs, who swept the regular season series from the Rebels, have posted 10 straight victories over UNLV, which is the longest streak by either team in the series and the longest streak by any team against the Runnin' Rebels in the last 21 seasons.
* Steve Fisher owns 27 career victories against the Rebels. That is the most among active coaches nationally (Steve Alford is second with eight). He has faced eight different UNLV head coaches (Bill Bayno, Max Good, Charlie Spoonhour, Jay Spoonhour, Lon Kruger, Dave Rice, Todd Simon and Marvin Menzies).
* Four San Diego State student-athletes earned all-conference recognition this week. Junior guard Trey Kell earned third-team (coaches, media) honors, sophomore guard Jeremy Hemsley (coaches), sophomore forward Zylan Cheatham (media) and senior guard Dakarai Allen (media) were named honorable mention. Allen was also named the defensive player of the year and voted to the all-conference defensive team by the coaches.
* This marks the third consecutive season a member of the San Diego State team has been named defensive player of the year in the league (Skylar Spencer in 205 and 2016).
* Kell leads SDSU in scoring (13.2), assists (2.8) and minutes played (31.4). He is one of four players in the league (Elijah Brown (UNM), Jaron Hopkins (FS) and Chandler Hutchinson (BSU)) to average 13 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game.
* Hemsley is averaging 13.2 points and leads the team in three-point field goals (52).
* Cheatham is shooting 51.2 percent from the field, with a team-high 6.4 rebounds to go along with a 9.3 scoring average. In his last three games, the sophomore has averaged 9.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.0 assists.
* Long known as one of the best defensive players in the country (see page 47 of the media guide), Allen has continued his strong offensive play. In his last 11 games, he is averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists. During that stretch, he has made 39-of-67 attempts from the floor (58.2 percent).
* Allen leads all MW players in effective field-goal percentage in league games at 62.6 percent (minimum 80 FGA).
* Allen is one of just five players in the Steve Fisher era to record at least 300 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots, joining Marcus Slaughter, Chase Tapley, Lorrenzo Wade and Billy White.
* Junior forward Malik Pope, who has accounted for nine of SDSU's 28 missed games this season due to injury, is averaging 11.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists during his last 11 games. During that span, he is shooting 42.3 percent from three-point range.
* Despite a 9-9 league record, SDSU was +59 scoring margin in MW games. In five of its eight league defeats, it owned a lead of at least 11 points. In the other four games, it had a seven-point advantage three times and a shot at the buzzer to force overtime in the other.
* Combining the Aztecs' largest leads in their nine conference losses, it totaled 87 points.
* KenPom lists the Aztecs as the sixth "unluckiest" team in the country (a measure of a team's actual winning percentage and what one would expect from its game-by-game efficiencies). Among the six unluckiest teams in the nation, SDSU is the only one with an above .500 record. The other five schools are a combined 43-110 this season.
* San Diego State is 2-10 this season in games decided by eight points or less. Prior to this season, the Aztecs were 50-22 in games decided by six points or less or in overtime.
* Once again, San Diego State is the top-ranked defensive unit in the conference. In MW games only, the Aztecs rank first in points allowed (63.2), field-goal percentage defense (38.5 percent) and blocked shots (4.8 bpg), and second in steals (6.8 spg). 
* In each of the last three seasons, SDSU has led the Mountain West (all games) in points allowed per game and field-goal percentage defense. The Aztecs this season own the top defense in terms of points allowed (62.4) and field-goal percentage defense (38.6).