SAN DIEGO – The first day matchups and times have been revealed for the 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy and the San Diego State men's basketball team will face the Georgetown Hoyas at 8:30 p.m. (PT) on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 25, with the game being broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy, a two-day, four-game tournament will be contested Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26 at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena and includes the Aztecs and Georgetown (BIG EAST), as well as the Pac-12's USC and
Saint Joseph's of the Atlantic 10.
SDSU and the Hoyas' lone meeting came at Georgetown in the 1981-82 season, a 71-53 victory for Hoyas, with current Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing a freshman on that squad.
USC and Saint Joseph's open the event on Thanksgiving Day with a 6:30 p.m. meeting. The winners and losers of Thursday's games face each other on Friday. The third-place game is scheduled for 6 p.m. (ESPNU) with the championship matchup set for 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2).
San Diego State and USC are past winners of the Paycom Wooden Legacy. The Trojans won the inaugural event in 2007, and San Diego State was the champion in 2013.
Since the event changed from the Wooden Classic to the Wooden Legacy in 2013, San Diego State has a 5-1 record in two appearances. SDSU will compete in the event for the third time since it went to its current tournament format and sixth time overall.
In 2013, the Aztecs won the event with victories over the College of Charleston and No. 20 Creighton, and then defeated No. 25 Marquette 67-59 in the championship game. In 2017, San Diego State won games against Sacramento State and Georgia before falling to Washington State 93-86 in the title game.
Three of the four teams in the 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy, San Diego State, USC and Georgetown, competed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs (23-5) won the program's conference-record 14th Mountain West Championship (regular season and tournament) and advanced to Indianapolis as a 6-seed. USC (25-8) reached the Elite Eight in last year's NCAA Tournament and Georgetown (13-13) swept through the 2021 BIG EAST Tournament to earn an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
San Diego State returns starters Nathan Mensah and Trey Pulliam, as well as significant contributors Lamont Butler, Keshad Johnson, Adam Seiko, and Joshua Tomaic. Transfers Jaedon LeDee, Tahirou Diabate, Chad Baker-Mazara and Matt Bradley, along with incoming freshman Demarshay Johnson Jr., are new faces for the Aztecs in 2021-22.
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Aztecs Play Hoyas In Paycom Wooden Legacy Opener
