SAN DIEGO – Meeting for just the second time, and the first since the 1981-82 campaign, the San Diego State men's basketball team will take on the Georgetown Hoyas in the semifinal game of the 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy on Thursday evening in the Anaheim Arena in Anaheim, Calif. The game is scheduled to tip at 8:43 p.m. PT.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State, the two-time outright defending Mountain West Conference regular season champions, takes aim at another exempt championship when the Aztecs open play against Georgetown on Thanksgiving evening in Anaheim, Calif.
Against the Hoyas, fourth-year head coach Brian Dutcher looks to secure his 100th career victory as head coach, in his 132nd game. The national coach of the year is looking to become the fastest Aztec coach to 100 victories (by comparison, Steve Fisher owned a 100-105 record at the time of his 100th victory on The Mesa).
Since the 2014 campaign, San Diego State has claimed three exempt event championships - the 2013 DirecTV Wooden Legacy, the 2016 Hawaii Airlines Diamond Head Classic and the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.
San Diego State and Georgetown are meeting for just the second time in school history. The 20th-ranked and NCAA finalist Hoyas defeated the Aztecs, 71-53, on Dec. 5, 1981, in Washington D.C. Michael Cage, a sophomore at the time, had nine points and 12 rebounds for SDSU.
San Diego State has won five consecutive games against teams that have called the Big East home at the time of the game. Two of those five victories during the streak came against AP Top 25 teams. Also, of note, this is the eight straight time that a San Diego State-Big East Conference member matchup has occurred on a neutral floor.
San Diego State's five-game win streak against the Big East is the second-longest active streak nationally (Michigan State, 6).
San Diego State has been one of the best neutral site teams nationally. Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, among teams that have played at least 10 neutral site games, San Diego State's 9-2 record (81.8 percent) is tied for the fifth best mark in the country.
Last time out, San Diego State put together another strong defensive effort, limiting UT Arlington to 38.5 percent field goal shooting en route to a workmanlike 68-62 victory on Saturday night at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs are 43-2 the last 45 times it has held the opposition to 40 percent or less from the field.
San Diego State made 30 free throws, its highest total since the Aztecs made 31 against Wyoming on March 1, 2006. SDSU is now 35-1 the last 36 times it has attempted more free throws than its opponent.
The Aztecs made 30-of-34 free throw attempts (88.2 percent). That is the highest free throw percentage for San Diego State in a game with at least 30 free throw attempts in at least the last 26 seasons.
Senior guard Matt Bradley scored a team-high 15 points, making all seven of his free throw attempts, and added six rebounds and three assists. This marked the 41st time in his career that he has been perfect from the free throw line in a game. He has now reached double figures in three of SDSU's four games this season.
Senior guard Trey Pulliam scored 11 points, reaching double figures for the third time this season and 11th time in his career (San Diego State is 10-1 in those games).
Sophomore guard Lamont Butler had a stat stuffer game, posting nine points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Senior forward Nathan Mensah had nine points, four rebounds and three blocked shots in the victory. Mensah has posted at least eight points in all four games this season and tied a career-high by extending his games with at least one blocked shot to 11. Mensah has 107 career blocked shots and moved into seventh place on the school's all-time list.
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 plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to four conference titles, a 99-32 overall record and has already been named the national coach of the year and twice named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.
-SDSU-
Aztecs Set To Play Georgetown In The Wooden Legacy
