SAN DIEGO – Coming off a 35-point win in its 2019-20 home opener, the San Diego State men's basketball team travels to Provo, Utah for its first road contest in a Saturday match-up at BYU where the Aztecs are 3-29 all-time.
NEWS AND NOTES (As of Nov. 7)
· San Diego State and Brigham Young, two teams that shared conference affiliation from 1978 through 2011, meet for just the third time in the last nine seasons when the Aztecs travel to Provo, Utah to face the Cougars.
· San Diego State is looking for just its second 2-0 start to a campaign in the last five seasons. The Aztecs have not opened a campaign with consecutive victories with at least one of those wins coming on the road 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.
· Saturday will mark the 74th meeting between the teams which makes it the ninth most frequent series in SDSU school history.
· San Diego State has won the last three encounters between the teams which is tied for the longest Aztec win streak in the 73 all-time meetings (also: first three games of the series 1940-77 and 2005-06).
· The Aztecs are 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 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 have lost their last six games played at the Marriott Center.
· Saturday marks 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 features one of the nation's best home teams against an elite road program. Since the start of the 1999-00 season, Brigham Young is 276-38 at home (87.9 percent). That ranks sixth nationally in home win percentage during that hat span. Meanwhile, San Diego State is 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 opened the 2019-20 campaign in style disposing of a Texas Southern, a program that won 24 games a year ago and piled up road wins at Baylor, Oregon and Texas A&M, 86-51.
· The Aztecs never trailed, used a 20-0 run in the first half to build a 40-10 advantage in cruising to the season opening win.
· SDSU played near flawless basketball in the first half. The Aztecs built a 48-13 lead at intermission. The Aztecs made twice as many first half three-point field goals (10), then Texas Southern had total field goals (5) and limited the Tigers to just 5-of-26 field goal shooting (19.2 percent) prior to the break.
· For a program that prides itself on defense, the first half effort still resonated in the record books. The 13 points allowed are tied for the fourth lowest first-half output for an Aztec opponent in the Brian Dutcher/Steve Fisher era (since 1999-00) and the 35-point advantage at intermission matched the highest against a Division I opponent int hat same time period.
· The Aztecs were led by junior guards Jordan Schakel and Malachi Flynn with 15 points apiece. Schakel connected on his four shots of the game and had eight points before four minutes expired. He connected on 4-of-5 three-point attempts in the game. Flynn, celebrating his SDSU debut after transferring from Washington State, stuffed the stat sheet by adding five rebounds and a game-high five assists to go along with his 15 points.
· SDSU dominated in every category, including a 62-41 advantage on the glass. Sophomore forward Natahan Mensah had a game-high 11 rebounds and true freshman forward Keshad Johnson came off the bench to add 10 rebounds and seven points in 15 minutes of action.
· Sure it is early, but San Diego State currently ranks 1st in offensive rebounds per game (26.0), 6th nationally in field goal percentage defense (22.6 percent), T-14th in points allowed (42.0) and T-24th in rebound margin (+21.0).
· Following the road game at Brigham Young, San Diego State returns to America's Finest City for a four-game homestand and will not leave the Pacific Time Zone again until the Mountain West Conference opener on Dec. 4 at Colorado State.