SAN DIEGO – After opening the 2020-21 season with a convincing 73-58 defeat of No. 22/21 UCLA on Wednesday night, the San Diego State men's basketball team wraps up its two-game holiday event with a matchup against the UC Irvine Anteaters at 4 p.m. in Viejas Arena. The Aztecs will be wearing their NIKE N7 turquoise uniforms to support Native American Heritage Month.
UP FRONT
-Having recorded a season opening victory for the eighth consecutive campaign and secured a victory in its 16th straight home
lid lifter, on Saturday afternoon San Diego State plays its second game in three days against UC Irvine.
-The Aztecs are playing just 44 1/2-hours after posting a 73-58 victory over No. 22 UCLA on Wednesday. Seniors Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel each tallied 15 points in the Aztec win.
-San Diego State and UC Irvine are meeting for the 18th time but the first since 1997. The two schools separated by 82 miles have not played during the Brian Dutcher/Steve Fisher era (est. 1999-00). The Aztecs own a 10-7 lead in the series.
-Current win streaks on the line Friday: 13-game regular-season non-conference win streak, 10-game win streak in games played in November, 8-game non-conference homecourt win streak, 7-game win streak against teams from California and a 2-game homecourt win streak (15-1 in its last 16 home games).
-The Aztecs have won their last four matchups with teams from the Big West Conference (with two of those wins coming by exactly one point). The last time San Diego State faced a Big West opponent was Dec. 19, 2011, when SDSU defeated UC Riverside, 80-55, at Viejas.
-The Aztecs 15-point win over UCLA was its largest since 1939 and gives SDSU a two-game winning streak over the Bruins for the first time since 1940. It matches UCLA's largest margin of defeat in a non-conference game since losing at Cincinnati, 93-64, on Dec. 19, 2018.
-San Diego State's defense was on full display Wednesday, limiting UCLA to 58 points (41 in the final 34:03) and 39.5 percent shooting from the field while forcing 15 turnovers. The Aztecs improve to 49-3 in the Brian Dutcher era with 27 straight victories when the Aztecs hold their opponent to 40 percent field goal shooting or less.
-In the Brian Dutcher era, since the start of the 2018-19 season, San Diego State owns a 6-4 record against AP Top 25 teams. The Aztecs are seventh nationally in winning record against AP Top 25 teams during that span.
-San Diego State is coming off a magical season that saw the Aztecs win their first 26 games of the season en route to a 30-2 record, a Mountain West Conference regular season title (record 12th league crown) and a climb to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll for five weeks before ending the campaign at No. 6. SDSU was the only team in the nation not to lose a road game in '19-20, finishing the year 11-0 away from Viejas Arena.
-The USA Today National Coach of the Year last year, Brian Dutcher begins his fourth season at the helm of the San Diego State men's basketball program. He has an overall record of 74-26 in three seasons and has led SDSU to the conference championship game in each of his three seasons. In 2018, he was the only first-year coach to lead his team to the NCAA tournament and in 96 previous seasons of Aztec basketball, no head coach had won more games and/or won a conference title in his first year until Dutcher accomplished the feat. In addition, Dutcher is the first Aztecs' men's basketball coach to win 20+ games in each of his first three seasons.
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