LAS VEGAS – After handing Creighton its worse loss, 31 points, in nearly 18 years, the San Diego State men's basketball team faces the Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship game of the 2019 Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational on Friday evening in the Orleans Arena.
NEWS AND NOTES (as of Nov. 28)
-San Diego State, off to its first 7-0 start since the Kawhi Leonard led NCAA Sweet 16 team of 2010-11, plays Iowa for the championship of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The Aztecs and Hawkeyes play at 5 p.m. PT on FS1.
-The Aztecs are 7-0 for just the third time in the last 34 seasons and this marks the first time in the 99 seasons of basketball that SDSU has opened the season 7-0 with all six wins coming by at least five points.
-For the third consecutive week, the Aztecs are receiving points in the Associate Press Top-25 poll. The Aztecs last appearance in the Top-25 came in February of 2015.
-Early season metrics are fans of the Aztecs play this season. Through Monday's games, San Diego State ranked 4th in strength of record, 23rd in Sagarin Ratings, 43rd in BPI and 47th in KenPom (see below).
-Through Thursday, San Diego State was one of 27 undefeated teams in the nation.
-San Diego State is one of four undefeated teams that has won multiple road games this season (also: Delaware, DePaul, SMU).
-Amazingly, San Diego State has compiled a 32-12 record in games played in Las Vegas since the start of the 2009-10 season. Of those 44 games, 16 have been road games played at UNLV in the Thomas & Mack Center (SDSU has gone 12-4) , while the Aztecs are 20-8 in neutral site games in Sin City.
-San Diego State improved its active win streak to five games against Big East teams which is tied with Michigan State for the nationl lead.
-San Diego State has won its last five games against members of the Big East Conference, with all five of those contests played at neutral sites. SDSU posted wins over No. 20 Creighton in the Wooden Classic (86-80, Nov. 29, 2013), over No. 25 Marquette in the Wooden Classic (Dec. 1, 2013), over St. John's in the NCAA Second Round (76-64 on March 20, 2015), over Xavier in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational (70-74 on Nov. 20, 2018) and again over Creighton in the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational (83-52 on Nov. 28, 2019).
-Brian Dutcher wins his 50th career game and improves to 50-24. When Dutcher first arrived on campus, he and then head coach Steve Fisher needed 103 games to reach 50 victories (50-53).
-San Diego State wins its eighth straight November game and is 17-4 in the month under Brian Dutcher.
-San Diego State is 6-1 in the Dutcher era in Thursday games and played for just the 29th time on a Thursday since the start of the 2010-11 season.
-San Diego State is 41-22 in its last 63 neutral site games.
-San Diego State improves to 2-0 while in the red on black uniforms that made their debut at San Diego on Nov. 20.
-Junior guard Malachi Flynn has exploded on the scene. Through seven games, the Washington State transfer leads the team in scoring (14.4), assists (5.4) and steals (1.4 spg). Flynn has 38 assists and just 10 turnovers, giving him an assists-to-turnover ratio of 3.8. That ranks third in the nation among all players with at least 30 assists this season.
-The reigning Mountain West Player of the Week, senior forward Yanni Wetzell is playing the best basketball of his career. A transfer from Vanderbilt, Wetzell has reached double figures in four consecutive games for the first time in his 38-game career. In his last four outings, he has averaged 14.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and has connected on 23-of-31 field goal attempts (74.2 percent).
-Junior guard Jordan Schakel is off to a red-hot start. The long-range specialist has connected on 18 of his 35 three-point field goal attempts (51.4 percent). He has made 89 of his 219 career attempts from beyond the arc (40.6 percent). Through seven games, he is averaging 10.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. He has made at least four three-point field goals in three of seven games this season.
-Junior forward Matt Mitchell is once again averaging in double figures. Mitchell, who averaged 10.5 and 10.3 points in his first two seasons, is averaging 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and has five steals in his last two games.