SAN DIEGO – A pair of San Diego State men's basketball players were recognized in Street & Smith's 2019-20 Basketball Yearbook this week and the publication also announced its predicted order of finish for the upcoming season.
For the second time in as many weeks, Malachi Flynn, a redshirt junior from Washington State, and grad-transfer KJ Feagin were singled out for individual honors by a national publication.
Flynn, a native of Tacoma, Wash., was predicted to be a first-team All-Mountain West performer and a member of the All-Newcomer Team. In his final year at Washington State, Flynn shot 41.3 percent from the field, 33.8 percent from three-point range and 84.6 percent from the free throw line, while averaging 15.8 points, 4.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 2017-18. Based on those numbers he would enter 2019-20 ranked first in steals, third in scoring, free throw percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio and three pointers, fourth in assists, fifth in three-point percentage and field goal percentage among returners in the Mountain West.
Flynn's 111.4 KenPom offensive efficiency rating in 2017-18, would be the highest for an Aztec since Xavier Thames in the 2013-14 season (120.0) and ranks second among returning Mountain West players in 2019-20. Averaging 12.8 points in his first two years, he begins the season 209 points from 1,000 for his college career.
Feagin, who graduated from Santa Clara last spring and has one year of eligibility left, was predicted to join Flynn as a member of the conference's All-Newcomer Team. In 2017-18, his last full season competing for the Broncos, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 44.3 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from distance and 86.8 percent from the line. Among Mountain West returners, those numbers would rank as second in scoring, assists, and free throw percentage, third in assist-to-turnover ratio, and fourth in three-point percentage and field goal percentage.
Feagin has averaged 14.2 points per game for his career, is a 1,000-plus point scorer and a three-time All-West Coast Conference honoree. Entering this season, he is rated the No. 2 point guard by ESPN and STADIUM among transfers who are immediately available to play.
Both Flynn and Feagin were honored in Lindy's Sports College Basketball's 2019-20 preview issue last week. Flynn was predicted to be a third-team performer and was rated the second-best player in America to have sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Feagin was a first-team selection, picked to be the conference's Newcomer of the Year, to have the biggest impact on the league in 2019-20 and to be its top playmaker/passer. Lindy's Sports also named the 6-foot-1-inch guard one of the nation's top grad-transfers and ranked him 150th among the top college players in America. The publication also named Feagin the best post-graduate player coming into the Mountain West this year.
Street & Smith projected San Diego State will finish second in the conference in the regular season and will be one of three teams competing for the Mountain West title and the conference's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
San Diego State is in the midst of its preseason preparations and will take the court for the first time on Oct. 30, when it plays host to UC San Diego in its lone exhibition game of the year. The Aztecs regular season opener, on Steve Fisher Court in Viejas Arena, is scheduled for Nov. 5 against Texas Southern.
The Aztecs return six of their top nine scorers off a team that posted a 21-13 record and advanced to the championship game of the Mountain West Conference tournament in 2019. San Diego State is one of just nine schools nationally to win at least 19 games each of the last 14 seasons and is one of 29 schools to play in seven of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
Season tickets for the 2019-20 campaign are on sale now. Packages start as low as $199 and fans interested in purchasing season tickets can do so at goaztecs.com, by calling the Aztec Ticket Office at (619) 283-7378 or by visiting the Aztec Ticket Office at Window E at SDCCU Stadium.
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