SAN DIEGO - The men's basketball programs at San Diego State and Brigham Young will start a new home-and-home series beginning with the Cougars coming to San Diego this November.
On Friday, Nov. 11, Brigham Young will visit Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena for just the third time since the 2010-11 season, the final year the school was part of the Mountain West Conference. The game time will be announced at a later date. As part of the agreement, San Diego State will return the game in 2023-24 and appear at the Marriott Center. A time and date for that contest will be determined in the future.
Two of San Diego State's biggest wins have come against Brigham Young. In the 1987-88 season, when the Cougars were the No. 7-ranked team in the nation, SDSU handed them an 82-80 overtime defeat in the Sports Arena. Then in the championship game of the 2011 Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas, the No. 7-ranked Aztecs cruised past No. 8 BYU, 72-54. In the contest, which included the nation's leading scorer, Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette, Aztec Billy White recorded a double double, 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points and added eight rebounds. Those victories came against the second and fifth-highest ranked teams San Diego State has defeated in the 101-year history of Aztec men's basketball.
In games played on San Diego State's home court, the Aztecs trail 17-to-19 in the series. Seven of those 17 victories have come in the last 12 meetings and within that time frame, SDSU put together a five-game win streak, from Feb. 11, 2001-to-Feb. 23, 2008. The last meeting in Viejas, on Dec. 18, 2020, resulted in a 72-62 defeat for San Diego State. Senior Matt Mitchell scored a career-high 35 points on 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) shooting from the floor, including a 5-of-9 (55.5 percent) performance from the bonus distance, and 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe. He also added three rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Wins have been very tough to come by in Provo where San Diego State is 4-30 all-time. The team's last victory in the Marriott Center, in the 2019-20 season, was its first since a 59-57 win on Jan. 8, 2005 (a span of 5,418 days). In that 2005 game, Brandon Heath scored four straight buckets in the final 2:12 to tie it at 57-57 before Chris Walton, who finished with 12 points, drained the game winner as the clock expired. The team's other wins in Provo came on Jan. 31, 1985, and Dec. 31, 1996.
The 2019-20, 76-71, five-point win was notable because it was the team's second-largest margin of victory at Brigham Young, trailing only a six-point win (77-71) on Jan. 31, 1985. Jordan Schakel scored a the career-high 19 points in the game. After intermission, he was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor, including 5-for-5 from three-point range, and poured in 17 points. The win snapped a six-game losing streak in contests played at BYU.
Overall, the Cougars hold a 50-25 advantage in the all-time series, which began with a pair of SDSU victories in Aztec Gym during the 1940-41 season.
San Diego State returns fifth-year seniors Nathan Mensah, Adam Seiko, Aguek Arop, and Matt Bradley in 2022-23, and four-fifths of its starting line up from a team that went 23-9 last year. In 2021-22, San Diego State appeared in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament for the fifth consecutive year and competed in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. In April, in each of their way-too-early-top-25, Seth Davis, Andy Katz and Jon Rothstein had the Aztecs ranked No. 22, No. 23 and No. 25 for 2022-23 and late last month, ESPN's Jeff Borzello had SDSU ranked No. 19.
In addition to the aforementioned players, San Diego State is expecting the return of significant contributors Lamont Butler and Keshad Johnson, Chad Baker-Mazara as well as newcomers Jaedon LeDee, who sat out the 2021-22 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Darrion Trammel, a transfer from Seattle U., Micah Parrish, a transfer from Oakland, and freshmen Miles Byrd and Elijah Saunders.
Today is the final day for season ticket holders to renew their seats and select a payment plan.
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