SAN DIEGO – Coming off a 2-0 week in which San Diego State defeated No. 22 UCLA and UC Irvine, the men's basketball team is set to host the St. Katherine Firebirds on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
Scene Setter
-San Diego State saw a major jump in both of the major polls, moving to No. 27 in the AP Top 25 Poll. The Aztecs spent the final 15 weeks in the poll last season, including the final 11 weeks in the top seven. SDSU climbed to No. 4 last season and ended the campaign ranked No. 6.
-San Diego State win streaks on the line Wednesday: 14-game win streak in non-conference regular-season, 11-game win streak in games played in November, nine-game win streak in non-conference home games, eight-game win streak against teams from California.
-San Diego State is 16-1 in its last 17 games played at Viejas Arena.
-On Monday, senior forward Matt Mitchell earned Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honor. Mitchell averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals in the victories over No. 22 UCLA and UC Irvine.
-In the victory over the Bruins, Mitchell paced the Aztecs with 15 points, including three three-point field goals, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. In the victory over the Anteaters, Mitchell tallied 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. It marked the eighth time in his career where he has scored in double figures with at least four rebounds while recording multiple assists and multiple steals (SDSU is 8-0 in those games).
-Sophomore forward Keshad Johnson scored a career-high 14 points against UC Irvine. The Aztecs improve to 20-0 in games in which he has played.
-San Diego State has forced 40 turnovers in its two games to date. That is tied for the 22nd most turnovers forced per game +20.0 and the Aztecs turnover margin of +10.0 per game is tied for 11th best nationally.
-San Diego State's 11.0 three-point field goals per game is tied for the 14th most nationally among teams that have played at least two games this season. Nine players have made a trey this season and three players have made at least four three-point field goals this season.
-San Diego State owns a 32-2 record since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the second best record nationally, trailing only Gonzaga's 33-2 mark.
-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 in 2019-20, Brian Dutcher begins his fourth season at the helm of the San Diego State men's basketball program. He has an overall record of 75-26 in three-plus 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.
-Dutcher welcomes back three returning starters in seniors forward Matt Mitchell (12.2 pts., 4.8 rebs., 1.7 asst. in 2019-20) and guard Jordan Schakel (10.0 pts., 3.4 rebs, 43.6 percent three-point shooting) and junior forward Nathan Mensah (6.9 pts., 6.8 rebs., 1.6 blks.). Mitchell and Schakel played in all 32 games (Mitchell started the final 19 and Schakel started 31) with Mensah appeared 13 times, all starts, before an injury prematurely ended his season.
-The Aztecs are picked to finish in first place in the preseason poll of the Mountain West media. SDSU has finished either first or second in the Mountain West preseason poll in each of the last seven years. It is also the 12th time in the last 16 seasons San Diego State has been picked first or second in the poll. All 12 times, additionally, have occurred in the last 16 years.
Mitchell Named Mountain West Player Of The Week
Senior forward Matt Mitchell was named the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Week for the week ending on Nov. 29. In sweeping both games last week, 73-58 over No. 22 UCLA and 77-58 versus UC Irvine, Mitchell averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals to help improve the Aztecs record to 2-0 this year and 32-2 in its last 34 games.
Against UCLA, he was one of the team leaders with 15 points. He knocked down three triples, and added two rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was the 44th time in his career he made multiple three pointers in a game, and the 15th time since the start of last season (33 games at the time). The game was the 100th of Mitchell's Aztec career, and he became the 33rd player in program history to reach the milestone.
Versus UC Irvine, the Riverside, Calif., native, finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He scored six points in the first half, with four coming in the final two minutes of the period as the Aztecs pried open a nine-point advantage at halftime en route to a 77-58 victory.
For the week, Mitchell shot .391 from the floor (9-of-23), .364 from distance (4-of-11) and knocked down 4-of-5 from the line. After two games, he leads the Aztecs in scoring, steals (4), is second in assists (4) and fourth in rebounds (6).
This is the first Mountain West weekly award of the season, the first for an Aztec this season, and the first of Mitchell's career.