SAN DIEGO - Following its 77-70 victory over Nevada on Friday night, the top-seeded San Diego State Aztecs meet the 2nd-seed Utah State Aggies for the third straight year in the championship game of the Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.
SCENE SETTER
San Diego State looks to add to its Mountain West Conference record 13 league titles (includes 2021 outright regular-season title), including a conference-high five tournament championships when the top-seeded Aztecs face 2nd-seeded Utah State in the championship game for the third consecutive season.
San Diego State and Utah State are meeting for the 22nd time, with the Aztecs owning a 13-8 advantage. The Aggies have won the last three meetings, including last season's championship game (59-56 on March 6, 2020). SDSU has won the most recent meeting with every other league opponent.
The teams have split the four Mountain West tournament encounters, with SDSU winning in the 2014 quarterfinals (73-39) and the 2016 quarterfinals (71-65) and the Aggies prevailing in the 2019 title game (64-57) and the 2020 title game (59-56).
This marks the fourth consecutive season the Aztecs are in the title game, the seventh time in the last eight seasons and a league-high 13th time SDSU has played in the event (UNLV has the second most championship game appearances with eight).
San Diego State ran the nation's third-longest active win streak to 13 games yesterday with a 77-70 victory over 5th-seeded Nevada. The Aztecs never trailed in the second half and enjoyed at least a 6-point advantage the last 17:51 of the contest. SDSU limited the Wolf Pack to just 35.8 percent shooting from the field and committed just nine turnovers in picking up its sixth consecutive win in the series.
Senior forward and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Matt Mitchell led the way for the Aztecs with 24 points and eight rebounds. The Aztecs improve to 13-1 in Mitchell's career when he gets to 20 points. In addition, the senior attempted 35 free throws in the three games against the Wolf Pack this season and he ends his career with 149 career points against the team from Reno.
Senior guard Jordan Schakel scored 15 points and narrowly missed his first career double-double with nine rebounds. One night after passing Kawhi Leonard in career scoring at SDSU, Schakel became the 35th player to reach the 1,000-point club in school history. This was his 22nd career game with at least 15 points and the Aztecs are 21-1 in those contests.
The one-two punch of Mitchell and Schakel combined to score 39 points and added 17 rebounds. The duo was 12-of-24 from the field and scored SDSU's first 20 points of the second half.
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 13-4 record as the top seed with one title (2006). SDSU has advanced to the championship game each of the six 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 seven of the last eight years and in 11 of the last 13 seasons (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021).
The Aztecs are 5-7 in the Mountain West title game. Only twice has SDSU won both the Mountain West regular-season title and conference tournament in the same season (2006 and 2011). Only the 2006 squad did it when winning the outright regular-season title.
Overall, San Diego State is 36-16 in the Mountain West tournament, a winning percentage of 69.2 percent. The Aztecs' 36 tournament wins are the most by any team - current or former - in league history. This is particularly impressive because 10 of SDSU's 52 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 37 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 37 victories came as the road team playing at UNLV. Villanova is second with 30 victories at Madison Square Garden.
Streaks on the line Saturday:
| Streak | No. | Note |
| Win Streak | 13 | 3rd longest active streak; T-4th longest streak in school history |
| Games Played in the Pacific Time Zone Win Streak | 14 | 2nd longest active streak (Gonzaga) |
| Road/Neutral Win Streak | 7 | 5th longest in school history |
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).