SAN DIEGO – Coming off its win at Wyoming, a Quad 1 road victory, the San Diego State men's basketball team, in its final 2021-22 regular season game at Viejas Arena, hosts the Fresno State Bulldogs in a Mountain West matchup on Thursday evening.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State looks to reach the 20-win plateau for the fifth straight season and the 26th time in school history Thursday night when the Aztecs play host to Fresno State in the final regular-season home game of the season.
San Diego State will honor seniors Aguek Arop, Tahirou Diabate, Nathan Mensah, Trey Pulliam and Joshua Tomaic, prior to the game Thursday.
On Tuesday, seniors Matt Bradley and Adam Seiko announced they will utilize an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to COVID and plan to return for the 2022-23 season. Bradley and Seiko will not take part in the pregame ceremony.
Arop and Mensah are in their fourth season at San Diego State. The Aztecs have posted a 93-27 record during that span (10th nationally), with three conference championships. Arop has overcome injuries to play in 93 career games, and averages 10.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per 40 minutes over his career. One of the top defenders in the nation, Mensah has started 86 of his 110 career games and is third on SDSU's all-time blocked shot list (155).
Pulliam is in his third year with the program, with 517 points, 243 assists, 210 rebounds and 84 career steals. He has started 53 consecutive games in which he has played and SDSU has posted a 72-14 record in his time (3rd nationally).
Tomaic transferred to SDSU from Maryland prior to the 2020-21 campaign. In his two seasons with the Aztecs, he has 206 points, 141 rebounds, 28 assists (had eight in three seasons at Maryland), 24 blocked shots and 23 steals. The Aztecs are 42-12 in his time (13th nationally).
Diabate joined the Aztecs prior to the start of this season and his contributions have grown as the season has progressed. He has played double-digit minutes in three of the last four games. For the season, he has 43 points, 44 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
San Diego State is 15-1 in its last 16 "Senior Day" games (final home game of the regular season). The only blemish during that run is a 76-74 setback to Fresno State on March 6, 2019. That is the Bulldogs most recent victory in the series (the Aztecs have won the last five games in the series).
This is the second of three games in seven days for the Aztecs and is the fifth game in a stretch of seven games in 15 days to end the regular season.
San Diego State is playing its best basketball of the season. The Aztecs are 8-2 in their last 10 games with just a pair of one-point road losses at NET No. 28 Colorado State (57-58) and NET No. 29 Boise State (57-58).
Since Jan. 31, the start of the 10-game stretch referenced above, San Diego State's scoring margin of +11.5 is 16th nationally and fifth (trailing Gonzaga, Duke, Iowa and USF) behind teams from conferences expected to get multiple bids.
San Diego State continues to boast an impressive NCAA metric profile. The Aztecs are 26th in the NET (tops in the MWC), 22nd in KenPom (tops in the MWC), 25th in BPI (tops in the MWC) and 28th in Sagarin Rating (tops in the MWC).
San Diego State and Fresno State will meet for the 124th time on Saturday, with the Aztecs owning a 67-56 series lead. This is the most played series in school history.
Overall, regardless of location, San Diego State has won five straight games in the series, the longest streak by either side since the Aztecs took eight consecutive games in the series from 2001-2014.
This is the first time the Bulldogs have visited Viejas Arena since March 6, 2019 (a 76-74 Aztec win).
Last time out, San Diego State snapped Wyoming's 14-game homecourt win streak with a 73-66 win in Laramie Monday. SDSU did not trail in the final 27:57 of the game in winning for the seventh time in its last eight games. The Aztecs enjoyed a 40-33 rebounds advantage and limited Wyoming to 39.7 percent field goal shooting.
The victory gave the Aztecs their 17th consecutive season with at least 19 victories. That is tied for the third-longest active Division I streak of consecutive seasons with at least 19 victories (1. Kansas 39, 2. Gonzaga 25, 3. San Diego State, Belmont and Brigham Young 17, list includes this season with all teams on the list having reached at least 19 wins).
San Diego State has won 32 straight games when scoring at least 65 points.
Senior guard and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year candidate Matt Bradley scored a career-high 30 points and tied a career-best with five three-point field goals. He added five rebounds and four assists and was an impressive +16 when he was on the floor. The scoring output was the most by an Aztecs since Matt Mitchell had 35 against Brigham Young (12-18-20).
Senior guard Trey Pulliam had his highest scoring game since December, with 14 points, on 6-of-11 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. Pulliam made the final two shots from the field, by either team, in the game and has now reached double figures in consecutive games.
In three of San Diego State's four conference losses, the Aztecs have held a lead inside the final 64 seconds of the game (vs. Boise, at Colorado State and at Boise State). By contrast, three of San Diego State's 11 conference victories have come by at least 25 points (Colorado State, UNLV and New Mexico) and eight have been by double-figure margins.
That is a major reason San Diego State owns the league's best scoring margin in conference play at +10.3 (second is Boise State at +7.1).
Once again this season San Diego State ranks among the nation's best in defense. For the entire season, the Aztecs are 2nd in scoring defense (57.3), 5th in field goal percentage defense (38.1), 7th in effective field goal percentage (43.8) and 8th in two-point field goal percentage (43.1). In addition, the Aztecs are 1st in Kenpom adjusted defensive efficiency (86.5).
SDSU head coach 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 115-37 overall record and has already been named the national coach of the year and twice named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year. Among first time head coaches who started in the 2017-18 season, Dutcher's 115 wins are the most and he is the only head coach in the group to reach triple-digit victories.
-SDSU-
Aztecs Host Fresno State in Regular-Season Home Finale
