SAN DIEGO – In the midst of its longest winning streak of the season, six games, the No. 25 San Diego State men's basketball team opens a two-game Mountain West Conference series on Thursday night in Fresno, Calif., against the Fresno State Bulldogs.
SCENE SETTER
Winners of six consecutive games, tied for the ninth longest conference win streak in the 100-season history of the program, No. 25 San Diego State journeys to central California for a series at Fresno State on Thursday and Saturday.
San Diego State has been remarkably dominant during the six-game win streak, outscoring its opposition by a score of 536-357. The Aztecs have a +29.8 scoring margin during the win streak winning all six games by at least 22 points.
During the win streak, since Jan. 22, San Diego State has been dominant in the national rankings include 1st in rebound margin (+18.0), 2nd in scoring margin (+29.8), 3rd in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.98), 4th in points per game (89.3), 9th in turnover margin (+5.8), T-19th in points allowed per game (59.5), 22nd in three-point field goal percentage (41.4), T-24th in turnovers forced per game (16.2) and 25th opponent field goal percentage (38.4).
San Diego State returned to the Associated Press poll this week at number 25. This is the third week this season the Aztecs have appeared in the AP poll and the first time since Dec. 14. Since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, the Aztecs have made 84 appearances in the poll. That ranks 19th nationally and is the highest total among California and Mountain West teams.
The Aztecs metrics continue their upward trend following the six dominating victories. San Diego State rankings in the metrics after Monday's games: 24th in the NET, 21st in Sagarin, 23rd in KenPom, 24th in the BPI and 27th in the RPI.
Win streaks on the line Thursday: 6-game overall win streak (longest active win streak in the Mountain West, SDSU's longest win streak of the season), 6-game Mountain West win streak (third league win streak of at least six games in Brian Dutcher's four seasons as head coach), 13-game win streak against teams from the state of California (tied with USC for the longest active win streak by a California team against teams from the Golden State), a 2-game win streak against Fresno State.
San Diego State and Fresno State will meet for the 121st time on Thursday. The Bulldogs represent the Aztecs most frequent opponent. The Aztecs own a 64-56 series advantage and swept the season series last season, 61-52 at Viejas and 64-55 in Fresno. The last four games between the teams have been decided by a single digit (24 total points).
In Fresno, the Bulldogs own a 33-22 advantage although the Aztecs own a 6-4 record against Fresno at the Save Mart Center.
This marks the third consecutive meeting with Fresno State in which San Diego State has been nationally-ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Nationally, San Diego State ranks among the leaders this season in the following categories: 7th in scoring defense (60.3), 13th in field goal percentage defense (39.0), 14th in scoring margin (+15.1), 17th in turnover margin (+3.9), 26th in three-point field goal percentage (38.1), three-point field goals per game (9.4) and 30th assist-to-turnover ratio (1.32).
According to Kenpom, several of San Diego State's highest offensive efficiency ratings 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).
San Diego State ran its win streak to six games with a 77-55 victory over San Jose State on Feb. 10. The Aztecs held the Spartans to 27.5 percent field goal shooting and forced 14 turnovers in cruising to the 22-point win. It marked the sixth time in the Brian Dutcher era that the Aztecs have held an opponent to 30.0 percent or less shooting from the field (6-0).
Senior guard Jordan Schakel scored a game-high 24 points on the strength of six three-point field goals in the victory over the Spartans. This marked the 10th time this season (SDSU is 10-0) and the 18th time in his career he has scored 15+ points in a game (SDSU is 17-1). The senior has reached double figures in a career-high seven consecutive games (18.0 ppg), 25-of-52 three-point field goals (48.1 percent).
For the first time in Schakel's 112-game career, the sharpshooter has scored 20+ points in consecutive games (23 vs. San Jose State on Feb. 8 and 24 vs. San Jose State on Feb. 10).
Remarkably, senior guard Terrell Gomez recorded his 90th career double-digit scoring game last Wednesday with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists against the Spartans. It marked the fourth time in the last seven games that he has scored at least 10 points. In the last five games, Gomez has 15 assists and only one turnover.
After failing to reach double figures in his first 12 career games, freshman guard Lamont Butler has scored 10 or more points in four of his last seven games (8.6 ppg). He has been more active of late, with 14 assists in his last four games, 13 steals in seven games and 23 rebounds in the last six games.
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No. 25 Aztecs Open Series At Fresno State On Thursday
