SAN DIEGO - Riding a five-game winning streak in which it has an average margin of victory of 31.4 points, the San Diego State men's basketball team looks to finish a two-game sweep of the San Jose State Spartans and extend its streak to six games on Wednesday night in Viejas Arena.
SCENE SETTER
Riding a season-long tying five-game winning streak, winning each game by at least 27 points and outscoring its opponents by a combined 157 points (31.4 ppg), San Diego State concludes a two-game set with San Jose State on Wednesday night.
San Diego State is the first team since the 1999-2000 Stanford team to win five consecutive conference games by at least 25 points. That Cardinal team finished 27-4 overall, 15-3 in the Pac-10 (conference champs) and finished third in the final AP Poll.
This century, San Diego State is the only team to post five consecutive conference victories, scoring at least 85 points and winning by at least 25 points in each of the games.
This marks the 78th all-time meeting between the Aztecs and Spartans with San Diego State owning a 42-35 advantage.
San Diego State has won six straight encounters between the teams and 13 of the last 14 games in the series.
In San Diego, the Aztecs own a 29-8 series advantage, with victories in all nine games played in Viejas Arena. San Jose's last win in San Diego over the Aztecs came on Feb. 27, 1997, 65-63, at the Sports Arena. The following month, Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher led Michigan to a postseason NIT championship.
The Aztecs metrics continue their upward trend following the four dominating victories. San Diego State rankings in the metrics after Monday's games: 21st in the NET, 17th in Sagarin, 19th in the BPI, 20th in the RPI and 21st in KenPom. San Diego State's No. 21 ranking in the NET is its highest this season (last season, SDSU spent 45 days ranked No. 1 in the NET).
Nationally, San Diego State ranks among the leaders this season in the following categories: 9th in scoring defense (60.6), 15th in scoring margin (+14.7), 18th in three-point field goal percentage (38.6), 22nd in turnover margin (+3.7) and 26th in field goal percentage defense (39.7).
Since Jan. 22, San Diego State national rankings include 1st in scoring margin (+31.4), 2nd in points per game (91.8), 2nd in rebound margin (+19.2), 12th in field goal percentage (51.3), 13th in turnover margin (+5.4) and 14th in three-point field goal percentage (43.8).
The Aztecs have scored at least 85 points in five straight games, which is SDSU's second-longest streak in its Division I era (1970-71) and longest since a seven-game stretch from Jan. 16-Feb. 4, 1971.
According to Kenpom, several of San Diego State's highest offensive efficiency rating against a Division I opponent in the 20-year history of the public ratings have come in the last couple of games. Three of the nine highest-rated games have occurred during the current win streak - No. 1 - Wyoming (Jan. 30, 2021), No. 4 - at Air Force (Jan. 24, 2021) and No. 9 - at Air Force (Jan. 22, 2021). Although it did not make the list, Monday wasn't too shabby as the Aztecs posted 85 points and had just five turnovers in the win over San Jose State.
San Diego State ran its win streak to five games, cruising to an 85-54 victory over San Jose State on Monday. The Aztecs used a 39-10 run sandwiched between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half to put the game out of reach.
Senior guard Jordan Schakel scored a game-high 23 points, on the strength of 4-of-7 three-pointers and a career-high 9-for-9 from the free throw line. This marked the ninth time this season (SDSU is 9-0) and the 17th time in his career he has scored 15+ (SDSU is 16-1) points in a game. The senior has reached double figures in a career-high six consecutive games (17.0 ppg), 19-of-39 three-point field goals (48.7 percent).
Junior forward Nathan Mensah scored 12 points and added nine rebounds and three steals in the win over the Spartans. It marked the 18th time in his career that he has reached double figures, with he Aztecs going 16-2 in those contests.
Senior forward Joshua Tomaic posted a career-high 12 points and added a season-high tying seven rebounds in the first game of the series. Tomaic continued his strong play of late, posting his third straight game with at least eight points (for the first time in his 80-game career).
Senior guard Trey Pulliam recorded his third career double-digit scoring game with 10 points, on 4-of-8 field goals, and added five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Pulliam owns a 2.32 assist-to-turnover ratio this season.
Although he did not get to double figures, sophomore forward Keshad Johnson flirted with a double-double with eight points and a career-best 13 rebounds in the win over San Jose State. The previous game (vs. Wyoming, Jan. 30), Johnson had a career-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
Aztecs Poised To Sweep San Jose State On Wednesday
