SAN DIEGO - Playing its second of three games in seven days and following an 80-75 victory at Wyoming on Saturday afternoon, the No. 23 San Diego State men's basketball program returns to Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena to play the Nevada Wolf Pack on Tuesday evening.
San Diego State and Nevada are the last remaining unbeaten teams in Mountain West play and the winner of this game will grab sole possession of the top spot in the standings.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State has won 12 of its last 13 Mountain West games including a 7-0 mark in conference home contests and has wins in each of its last 10 games against the Wolf Pack in Viejas Arena and in 11 of its last 12 against Nevada regardless of location.
San Diego State, the dominant force in the Mountain West for the majority of the league's existence, enter Tuesday's game with a 3-0 record to start conference action. It is just the seventh time in the now 24 years of the Mountain West's existence that SDSU has won its first three league games and in each of the previous six instances, San Diego State moved to 4-0.
Since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, San Diego State's 344-112 record is the seventh best in the nation (see box on page 8).
The last time out, San Diego State defeated Wyoming, 80-75, at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyo. The victory was the team's ninth straight over the Cowboys regardless of location and its third straight in Laramie and its fifth in the last six in the venue.
With the win, SDSU is 21-5 in its last 26 Mountain West road games since December 4, 2019.
SDSU is 49-1 in its last 50 games, and has won 37 straight games, in which it has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field which it did at Wyoming on Saturday.
San Diego State and Nevada will meet for the 31st time Tuesday evening, with the Aztecs owning a 24-6 series advantage. The Aztecs have won the last eight games played between the teams and are 11-1 in the last 12 encounters, regardless of location.
The Aztecs have won 12 of the 13 games against the Wolf Pack on its home floor, which includes a 10-1 record in Viejas Arena. San Diego State's lone home loss to Nevada was a 76-71 overtime defeat on November 14, 1998.
The Aztecs enter Tuesday's game winners of 12 of its last 13 regular season Mountain West contests, including its last seven in a row.
San Diego State's calling card is defense, and it is playing it at an elite level, according to Kenpom, which has the Aztecs ranked No. 16 nationally in adjusted defense. In addition, the SDSU offense, which ended the 2021-22 campaign ranked No. 167 in adjusted offense, slots in at No. 46 so far this year and SDSU is No. 20 in adjusted efficiency margin.
According to Kenpom, through the games of Jan. 9, San Diego State (12-3) has the No. 15-ranked strength of schedule. The only teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 with a stronger strength of schedule are No. 2 Kansas (4th), No. 4 Alabama (3rd), No. 8 Gonzaga (6th) & No. 12 Xavier (13th).
San Diego State, returned to the AP poll this week at No. 23, and has now appeared in the top 25 for 94 weeks since the start of 2010-11 season. SDSU's 94 weeks in the top 25 are the 18th most nationally and are the most for any California school in that time frame (see graphic on page 9).
SDSU enters tonight's game with a 12-3 record, with its losses coming against then No. 5 Arizona and No. 9 Arkansas at the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational and Saint Mary's at the Jerry Colangelo Classic. All three are Quad 1 games played on a neutral court, and all three rank among the top-11 in Kenpom rankings. In addition, the Aztecs victory over Ohio State, No. 12 in Kenpom and No. 24 in the AP Poll, is also a Quad 1 game. Those four games and the team's win at UNLV are Quad 1 games.
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.
San Diego State owns an 88-19 record (82.2 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That's the fifth best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (104-10), Houston (98-19), Kansas (97-19), and Baylor (91-18).
Junior Lamont Butler led the Aztecs with 23 points, including 14 in the second half of SDSU's 80-75 win at Wyoming on January 7. He is the seventh Aztec, since the inception of the Mountain West, to score at least 23 points without committing a turnover in a conference road game. He scored in double figures for the fifth time this season (4-1) and 17th of his career (13-4). He led SDSU in scoring for the first time this season and the third time in his college career.
Senior Jaedon LeDee was uber efficient in Laramie, finishing 2-of-2 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. He posted a game-high nine rebounds and in the last four games has totaled 31 boards (7.8 rebounds per game).
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 131-43 overall record, and has been named the national coach of the year and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.