SAN DIEGO – Coming off a tough game at Brigham Young last week, the San Diego State men's basketball team is back in action on Thursday night in Viejas Arena against the Arizona State Sun Devils. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. PT tip and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
OFF THE JUMP
San Diego State continues its challenging schedule to open the 2021-22 campaign on Thursday evening at Viejas Arena when the Aztecs play host to Arizona State.
This opens a stretch in which the Aztecs will play five games in the final 13 days of November.
According to the Sagarin Ratings, San Diego State's schedule to date is the toughest among the top 65 rated teams in the nation.
The Aztecs and Sun Devils are meeting for the 30th time, with Arizona State owning an 18-11 series lead. SDSU is just 8-6 at home against ASU, including 1-2 at Viejas Arena.
This is the second consecutive season the teams have met. Last season in Tempe, Ariz., Jordan Schakel scored 25 points and Nathan Mensah added 17 points and 15 rebounds as SDSU defeated No. 23 Arizona State, 80-68.
San Diego State has recorded three straight wins against members of the Pac-12 Conference. All three have been by double digits and two have come against nationally-ranked opponents. The combined score in those three games is 233-178 (+55).
The Aztecs are 9-1 in their last 10 games immediately following a loss. In situations where a loss is followed immediately by a home game, San Diego State has won 16 consecutive games.
Last time out, San Diego State limited Brigham Young to 38.6 percent field goal shooting, held the Cougars to four three-point field goals but was unable to score enough in a 66-60 setback at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. For just the second time in his career Nathan Mensah led the Aztecs in scoring with a career-high tying 18 points (6-7 FGs) and added a team-high eight rebounds.
Senior forward Nathan Mensah is off to a fantastic start. Long known for being one of the best defenders in the country, Mensah is 10-of-11 (90.9 percent) from the field through two games. He is averaging 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and has three blocked shots this season. The senior is the only player in the nation shooting 90 percent or better with a minimum of 10 field goals and an average of 9.0 rebounds per game. His 90.9 percent field goal shooting ranks third nationally.
Senior forward Matt Bradley is leading the Aztecs in scoring at 15.5 points. The transfer from California, had a game-high 23 points in the season-opening victory against UC Riverside. It was the most points in an SDSU debut since Nov. 18, 2006.
Senior Trey Pulliam has reached double figures in both San Diego State games this season. He has three back-to-back double digit scoring games in his 62-game Aztec career. In addition, he has five double-digit scoring outings in his last six games dating back to last season (12.2 ppg) after reaching that figure five times in his first 56 games.
Once again this season San Diego State is unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. That is no problem for the Aztecs. SDSU has been unranked each of the last two seasons but nonetheless have spent 22 weeks in the polls since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, climbing as high as No. 4 in 2019-20 and to No. 16 in 2020-21. Each of the last two seasons the Aztecs have ended the season nationally ranked.
Brian Dutcher is in his fifth season as San Diego State's head coach and his 23rd season on the Aztec sidelines. In his four seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to four conference titles, a 97-32 overall record and has already been named the national coach of the year and twice named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.
The Aztecs game on Thursday will be on CBS Sports Network, its second home, since the start of the 2019-20 season, SDSU has played on CBS Sports Network 25 times and has a 24-1 record in those games and has won its last eight games on the network. The team's only loss in a game broadcast on CBS Sports Network since the start of the 2019-20 season, came in a 57-45 defeat at Utah State on Jan. 14, 2021.
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