SAN DIEGO – With the bitter taste of defeat still fresh in their mouths, the San Diego State men's basketball team get a chance at immediate redemption when it looks to split its two-game series against the Colorado State Rams on Monday night in Viejas Arena.
SCENE SETTER
After having a 10-day break in between games, San Diego State plays the second of four games in eight days when the Aztecs play host to Colorado State Monday at Viejas Arena.
The game is the second of a two-game series against the Rams. Colorado State won game one on Saturday afternoon, 70-67.
This is the second game of a four-game homestand San Diego State has to open conference play. The Aztecs, which are the defending Mountain West Conference regular-season champions and have won a league record 12 championships, will play host to Nevada on Thursday and Saturday.
San Diego State is coming off of a rare loss. Even more rare is the Aztecs dropping consecutive home games. San Diego State has gone 44 consecutive games without losing back-to-back home games. That is the fourth longest active streak nationally.
The Aztecs are currently 15th in Sagarin Ratings, 21st in RPI, 29th in BPI, 31st in Kenpom and 49th in Strength of Record.
San Diego State's 6-2 record is particularly impressive when considering the Aztecs seven Division I opponents are a combined 42-14 (when factoring out 2-5 against San Diego State). All seven Aztec Division I opponents own a .500 or better record when factoring out the game against SDSU.
San Diego State ranks among the national leaders in several categories including: 15th in scoring defense* (59.5), 24th in Kenpom adjusted defensive efficiency* (91.2), 29th in field goal percentage defense (38.3), 30th in turnover margin (+4.4), 34th in steals per game* (8.9) and 40th in turnover per game (11.4). * - indicates leads Mountain West Conference in category
Last time out, San Diego State played 11:45 of nearly flawless basketball, building a 36-10 advantage against Colorado State. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, they made just 10-of-39 field goals (25.6 percent) the rest of the way, while the Rams converted 10-of-20 three-point field goals (50.0 percent) the remainder of the games as Colorado State rallied for a three-point win.
The loss snapped San Diego State's five-game winning streak in the series. Nonetheless, the Aztecs have still won five of the last six (5-1), nine of the last 14 (9-5) and 28 of the last 36 (28-8) encounters.
Senior guard Terrell Gomez scored a season-high 19 points and tied a career-best with four steals, connecting on 5-of-9 from three-point range. The transfer has scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time as an Aztec (85 times in his career), has 1,710 career points (9th among all active players), 310 career three-point field goals (tied for second among all active players) and has made 43.7 percent of his career three-point field goal attempts (first among active players with at least 260 career makes).
Gomez scored 19 points off the bench for the Aztecs, making it the highest output off the pine for SDSU since Jeremy Hemsley scored 19 points against UNLV on Jan. 27, 2018.
Senior forward Matt Mitchell had 14 points and a season-high seven rebounds in the contest. Mitchell, who has scored in double figures in all eight games this season, moved past Lorrenzo Wade and into 18th place on the school's career scoring list with 1,207 points.
Senior guard Jordan Schakel connected on 4-of-9 three-point field goals en route to 12 points and five rebounds. It was the 26th time in his career that he has made at least three treys in a game but an 18-game Aztec winning streak when he made at least three triples came to an end in the contest.
Junior guard Adam Seiko started for the first time in his 69th career game. Seiko was starting in place of Aguek Arop who was sent home prior to the game due a stomach illness. Seiko made a career-high four three-point field goals and missed matching his career-high point total by one. Seiko settled for 12 points, four assists and two rebounds in the contest.
Aztecs With Revenge On Their Minds For CSU On Monday
