SAN DIEGO – Coming off a big road win in an extremely hostile environment, BYU's Marriott Center, the San Diego State men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of Viejas Arena on Wednesday night to host Grand Canyon University, a program it has yet to beat in three tries.
NEWS AND NOTES (as of Nov. 11)
- San Diego State and Grand Canyon meet for the fourth time overall and third time in America's Finest City.
- San Diego State is looking for its first 3-0 start to a campaign since the 2014-15 NCAA Tournament season. Since the inaugural year of the Mountain West (1999-00), San Diego State has started the season 3-0 five times. The 2010-11 team, which reached the Sweet-16 in the NCAA Tournament, reached No. 4/4 in the national rankings and had the best start going 20-0, before a 68-55 loss at BYU (Jan. 19, 2011).
- The Aztecs have opened the 2019-20 campaign with consecutive victories, with one of those wins coming on the road, for the first time since the 2010-11 season. That season, SDSU opened the year with wins at Long Beach State and at No. 11/12 Gonzaga en route to a 20-0 start, a 34-3 final record and the school's first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
- Grand Canyon is one of five Division I programs that San Diego State has played at least three times without coming away with a victory. The five are Grand Canyon, Tennessee & Villanova (0-3) and Duke & Stanford (0-4).
- San Diego State's 76-71 victory at Brigham Young on Saturday (11/9) marks the team's fourth consecutive win in the series, which is the longest Aztec win streak in the 74 all-time meetings. The other three game win streaks of the series were 1940-77 and 2005-06.
- Entering its game at BYU, San Diego State was just 3-29 against the Cougars in Provo, with victories coming on Jan. 31, 1985, Dec. 31, 1996 and Jan. 8, 2005. The most recent victory in Provo, prior to Saturday's 76-71 win, came when Chris Walton connected on a fadeaway follow shot in the lane as time expired to give SDSU a 59-57 win. The Aztecs then lost six straight games played at the Marriott Center. San Diego State had to wait 5,418 days between wins at Brigham Young.
- Saturday marked San Diego State's first visit to Brigham Young since the 2010-11 campaign when the top-10 teams met for the first of three times that season. The Aztecs entered the game 20-0 and ranked No. 4 nationally in both polls. The Cougars (17-1), were ranked 9th nationally in both major polls. In front of a sellout crowd of 22,700, the Cougars handed the Aztecs their first loss of the season, 71-58. Both team's All-Americans were outstanding, with Jimmer Fredette scoring 43 points and Kawhi Leonard posting 22 points and 15 rebounds. SDSU would avenge the game in the Mountain West tourney final, winning 72-54, in the championship game.
- Saturday's game, at BYU, featured one of the nation's best home teams against an elite road program. Since the start of the 1999-00 season, Brigham Young was 276-38 at home (87.9 percent). That ranked sixth nationally in home win percentage during that span. Meanwhile, San Diego State was 102-65 in road/neutral contests since the start of the 2010-11 season. That is 15th nation ally during that period.
- San Diego State overcame a nine-point second half deficit to win at BYU, 76-71. The Aztecs overcame double-digits to win three different games last season (vs. Xavier, CSUN and Utah State).
- San Diego State is 2-3 the last five times it has trailed with five minutes to play.
- At Brigham Young, SDSU was led by junior guard Jordan Schakel who scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Schakel scored 17 of his 19 points after intermission, connecting on 6-of-6 field goal attempts and 5-of-5 from beyond the arc after the break.
- Guards junior Malachi Flynn and senior KJ Feagin scored 17 and 12 points, respectively, both season-highs. Flynn has scored in double figures in 40 of his 64 career college games and both of his games as an Aztec. Feagin scored in double figures for the first time as an Aztec and for the 58th time in 85 college contests.
- Sophomore forward Nathan Mensah grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. It's his second consecutive game with 11 boards and marks the eighth time in his career he had reached double-digit rebounds.
THE SERIES
San Diego State trails in the series 0-3 to Grand Canyon. GCU defeated the Aztecs 86-68 on Feb. 23, 1980, 52-45 on Dec. 18, 2015 and 76-72 on Dec. 7, 2016.
- The Aztecs are 0-2 against the Lopes in America's Finest City, with losses coming on Feb. 23, 1980 in the Sports Arena and Dec. 18, 2015 in Viejas Arena.
- In the last meeting in San Diego, a 52-45 win for the Lopes, Zylan Cheatham hit a layup with 2:59 to play to put SDSU up 45-43, but GCU then scored the last nine-straight points to come away with the seven point-victory.
- In the 2015 game, guard Jeremy Hemsley, then a freshman, was the only Aztec to score in double figures. Zylan Cheatham finished with seven points and 11 rebounds.
- In 2016, sophomore guard Jeremy Hemsley scored a game-high 28 points, including going 7-of-8 from beyond the arc. Zylan Cheatham had a 17-point, 12-rebound double double.
- San Diego State is 7-3 against the current members of the Western Athletic Conference.