LAS VEGAS – After defeating a spirited Wyoming team in the Quarterfinal round of the 2021 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men's Basketball Championship tournament, San Diego State, the one-seed, plays five-seed Nevada in the semifinal game on Friday night.
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San Diego State advances to is 14th consecutive Mountain West Championship semifinal round game and the Aztecs will look for their 14th appearance in the Mountain West title game when they faces Nevada Friday evening.
San Diego State won its 14th straight conference tournament opening round game, defeating Wyoming, 69-66, in the first quarterfinal game Thursday. In a game in which neither team led by more than four points, the Aztecs committed just six turnovers, made 12-of-13 free throw attempts and got a season-high 20 points from Terrell Gomez to advance.
Yesterday's victory over Wyoming was San Diego State's 12th consecutive victory. The Aztecs faced a second-half deficit for the first time during the winning streak (dates back to Jan. 16).
San Diego State is the top-seed in the Mountain West tournament for the sixth time in school history (2006, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2021). The Aztecs own a 12-4 record as the top seed with one title (2006). SDSU has advanced to the championship game each of the five previous times it entered the event as a one seed.
San Diego State clinched its eighth regular-season MW title this season (2006, 2011*, 2012*, 2014, 2015*, 2016, 2020 and 2021). * - indicates shared title
San Diego State has won this event a record five times (2002, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2018).
San Diego State has won the event as the one seed, two seed, four seed and five seed (twice).
Amazingly, San Diego State has played for the tournament title in six of the last seven years and in 10 of the last 12 seasons (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020).
The Aztecs are 12-4 in the semifinal round of the event, including victories in the last three league semifinal games.
Overall, San Diego State is 35-16 in the Mountain West tournament for a winning percentage of 68.6 percent. The Aztecs' 35 tournament wins are the most by any team - current or former - in league history. This is particularly impressive because 10 of SDSU's 51 tournament games have been played on the road (8-2 at UNLV), while UNLV has played 38 of its 45 tournament games at home.
San Diego State owns 36 victories in Thomas & Mack Center since the start of the 2008-09 campaign. That is the most victories by any school in any venue in which it has not played a home game in the past 13 seasons. What is particularly impressive is that 16 of those 36 victories came as the road team playing at UNLV. Villanova is second with 30 victories at Madison Square Garden.
San Diego State is ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll this week, marking the fourth consecutive week that the Aztecs have appeared in the AP Top 25 Poll and the sixth week this season. This is the 87th week that SDSU has appeared in the Top 25, all have occurred since the start of the 2010-11 campaign. That is the 19th-highest total during that range, just one week shy of the Syracuse total (88).
Senior guard Jordan Schakel needs just seven points to reach 1,000 points for his career. He will become the 35th player in school to reach that plateau and will join current Aztecs Matt Mitchell (1,416 points) and Terrell Gomez (1,856 points, 219 at San Diego State) as active players in the 1,000-point club.
San Diego State had a pair of incredibly close games with the Wolf Pack this season, winning 65-60 on Jan. 7 and 69-67 on Jan. 9 at Viejas Arena. In the first game, Matt Mitchell led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds and in the second contest Mitchell went for 20 points and eight rebounds. In that second contest, senior guard Trey Pulliam made a running jumper as time expired to give SDSU the win. It was the first Aztec game-winning shot at the buzzer since Jamaal Franklin (3-8-12).
Matt Mitchell has 125 career points against Nevada, to go along with 56 career rebounds. The Aztec senior owns a career 8-2 record against the Wolf Pack. He is 20-of-21 from the free throw line against Nevada this season.
No. 19 Aztecs Play Nevada In The MW Semifinal
