March 8, 2017
LAS VEGAS -
SDSU Men's Basketball Game Notes | SDSU Broadcast Flip Card
NEWS AND NOTES (through March 7)
* San Diego State continues its quest to add to its Mountain West-best 10 men's basketball championships, when the Aztecs face Boise State in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain West tournament on Thursday night.
* San Diego State leads the all-time series with Boise State, 9-4 and has won both tournament meetings, 65-62 in the 2012 quarterfinals and 73-67 in the 2013 quarterfinals.
* The Aztecs and Broncos met once - 61 days ago in Boise. San Diego State raced to a 21-10 lead, but lost, 78-66. Since that game, the Aztecs are 10-6, while Boise State is 8-6.
* Playing in the opening round Wednesday for the first time in school history, San Diego State rallied from a 21-point second half deficit to defeat UNLV, 62-52 in overtime.
* The 21-point second half comeback is the largest comeback after intermission in the school's recorded history (previous high was a 16-point comeback vs. New Mexico on March 8, 2014).
* With the victory, San Diego State improves to 26-13 in the Mountain West tourney. That is the highest winning percentage among the league's current membership.
* The Aztecs have won the first game it has played in each of the last 10 conference tournaments.
* SDSU has won this 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).
* The Aztecs are the six seed for the third time in the Mountain West era (2004, 2005) and own a 2-2 record in that slot.
* 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.
* 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).
* Fisher-coached teams are 30-19 at Thomas & Mack Center (includes Mountain West postseason games). Fisher's 30 victories in the building are the second most among active Division I head coaches, trailing only former UNLV head coach and current Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger (100).
* San Diego State is very familiar with Thomas & Mack Center, which is also the home of the MW Championship, and has experienced plenty of success in the building over the years. Since the start of the 2013-14 campaign, the Aztecs are11-3 in the building with the three blemishes being single-digit losses in the MW title game. The venue has played host to SDSU celebrations at the Mountain West tournament in 2002, 2010 and 2011.
* Kell leads SDSU in scoring (13.2), assists (2.8) and minutes played (31.5). 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 13.0 points and leads the team in three-point field goals (53).
* 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 12 games, he is averaging 8.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists. During that stretch, he has made 40-of-73 attempts from the floor (54.8 percent).
* Allen led 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 12.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists during his last 12 games. During that span, he is shooting 41.4 percent from three-point range.
* Despite a 9-9 league record, SDSU was +59 scoring margin in MW games. In five of its nine 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 eighth "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 14 unluckiest teams in the nation, SDSU is one of only two teams with a winning record.
* 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 (62.1) and field-goal percentage defense (38.4).