LAHAINA, Maui – After its semifinal game loss to the No. 14/12 Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday night, its first setback of the season, the No. 17/19 San Diego State plays in the third-place game at the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational against the No. 9/9 Arkansas Razorback on Wednesday night, the final game of the event. The game is scheduled to tip at 5 p.m. HT/7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
OFF THE BOUNCE (through games of Tuesday, Nov. 22)
After opening the 2022-23 season with four consecutive victories the No. 17/19 San Diego State Aztecs lost its semifinal game of the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational and looks to get back to its winning ways on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at the Lahaina Civic Center at Lahaina, Maui, against No. 9/9 Arkansas.
The Aztecs and Razorbacks are meeting for the third time in the school history, and the first since Arkansas bested SDSU 76-64 on Dec. 3, 1985 in Fayetteville. San Diego State trails in the all-time series and has yet to defeat Arkansas in its two previous tries, both in the 1980s.
San Diego State held its spot in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll last week, remaining at No. 17. Now nationally ranked for a third consecutive week, the Aztecs are occupying the No. 17 ranking position for the fourth time in program history.
San Diego State is enjoying its 91st appearance in the AP Top 25 Poll this week (all have occurred since the start of the 2010-11 campaign). Since the start of the '10-11 season, SDSU's 90 weeks in the top 25 are the 18th most nationally.
SDSU has a 6-5 record in the Maui Invitational and owns a second, third and sixth place finish in its three previous appearances in the event.
San Diego State, which in 2021-22 reached the Mountain West championship game for the fifth time in head coach Brian Dutcher's five seasons, looks for its unprecedented 15th Mountain West men's basketball title. Entering the 2022-23 season, San Diego State, the most successful program in conference history, has won eight regular season and six Mountain West tournament titles.
For the fourth time since the start of the 2010-11 season, San Diego State entered a season ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. The Aztecs No. 19 ranking in the initial poll is the second highest in program history, trailing only the 2014-15 preseason poll in which it was No. 16. Since the start of the 2010-11 and at the conclusion of last week's action, SDSU had appeared in the AP poll for 89 weeks, more than any program in the state of California; ahead of UCLA (68 weeks), Saint Mary's (44 weeks), Southern California (35 weeks) and California (11 weeks).
San Diego State owns an 80-17 record (82.5 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the fifth best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (93-8), Baylor (85-14), Houston (88-18) and Kansas (87-18). The 10 winningest programs since 2019-20 are listed in the box below.
After defeating Ohio State 88-77 in its quarterfinal game on Monday, San Diego State played its second game in as many days on Tuesday night but lost to No. 14/12 Arizona, 87-70, at the Lahaina Civic Center in a semifinal game of the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
Senior Darrion Trammell led the Aztecs with a season-best matching 21 points, his third double digit scoring game this year. He was 6-of-16 from the floor and was successful on 8-of-9 shots from the free throw line, both season-highs. It was his 52nd career double-digit scoring game and 24th time he has scored at least 20 points in 59 career games.
Junior Micah Parrish reached double-digit scoring, 10 points, for the second time this season and the second time in the Maui Invitational. He was 4-of-7 from the field and in games in which he shoots at least 50.0 percent his team has won 19-of-33. Parrish also knocked down a pair of shots from the bonus distance. In two games at the Maui Invitational, he is 10-of-15 from the field (66.7 percent), 5-of-10 from beyond the arc (50.0 percent), nine rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Senior Nathan Mensah finished nine points on 3-of-3 shooting, had seven rebounds, two steals and a block. He is the fifth Aztec to have a perfect shooting night, minimum 3 field goal attempts, grab seven rebounds, have two steals and a blocked shot since the start of the 1996-97 season, and is the first to do it against a ranked team.
Brian Dutcher is now in his sixth season as San Diego State's head coach and his 24th season on the Aztec sidelines. In his five-plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to four conference titles, five Mountain West championship game appearances, a 123-41 overall record, and has been named the national coach of the year and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.