SAN DIEGO – With back-to-back league wins, led by Matt Bradley's 25.0 points per game and the first Mountain West men's basketball Player of the Week award of the conference season under his belt, the San Diego State Aztecs are in Laramie, Wyo., to face the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon in a 2 p.m.MT tilt which will be broadcast on CBS.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State, when it plays at Wyoming on Saturday, will be playing just its third true road game of the season; the first was a 74-62 victory at Stanford on Nov. 15, 2022, and last Saturday at UNLV, a 76-67 triumph for SDSU.
San Diego State has won 11 of its last 12 Mountain West games including a 5-1 mark in conference road contests and has wins in each of its last eight games against the Cowboys overall and four of its last five at the Arena-Auditorium, including last year, when its handed Wyoming its only home loss.
San Diego State, the dominant force in the Mountain West for the majority of the league's existence, enter Saturday's game with a 2-0 record to start conference action. It is just the 12th time in the now 24 years of the Mountain West's existence that SDSU has won its first two league games.
Since the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign, San Diego State's 87-19 record is the eighth best in the nation (see box on page 8).
The last time out, San Diego State defeated UNLV, 76-67, at Thomas & Mack Center. The victory was the team's fifth straight over the Rebels at Thomas & Mack and its ninth in the last 10 in the venue.
With its win, SDSU is 41-4 in its last 45 Mountain West home games since January 24, 2018.
SDSU is 83-4 the last 87 times it has shot better than its opponent and the Aztecs improved to 125-18 the last 143 games when out rebounding its opponent, both of which it did at UNLV.
San Diego State and Wyoming will meet for the 90th time Saturday afternoon, with the Aztecs owning a 48-41 series advantage. The Aztecs have won the last eight games played between the teams and are 11-1 in the last 12 encounters.
The Aztecs have struggled in Laramie, owning just a 12-27 all-time record in games played at Wyoming (12-23 in Arena-Auditorium).
The Aztecs enter Saturday's game winners of 11 of its last 12 regular season Mountain West contests, including its last six 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. 13 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. 54 so far this year and SDSU is No. 21 in adjusted efficiency margin.
According to Kenpom, through the games of Jan. 4, San Diego State (11-3) has the No. 19-ranked strength of schedule. The only teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 with a stronger strength of schedule are No. 7 Alabama (9th) and No. 9 Gonzaga (8th).
San Diego State, receiving votes in this week's AP poll, has appeared in the top 25 for 93 weeks since the start of 2010-11 season. SDSU's 93 weeks in the top 25 are the 18th most nationally and are the most for any California school in that time frame.
SDSU enters today's game with a 11-3 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-15 in Kenpom rankings. In addition, the Aztecs victory over Ohio State, No. 11 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 87-19 record (82.1 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the fifth best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (102-10), Baylor (91-17), Houston (97-19) and Kansas (96-19).
Senior Matt Bradley led the Aztecs with 23 points, including 14 in the first half in SDSU's 76-67 win at UNLV on December 31. He scored in double figures for the seventh time this season and 104th of his career. In totaling 23 points Bradley became the eighth active player to surpass the 2,000-career point plateau. When Bradley scores at least 20 points in a game, SDSU is 12-3.
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 130-43 overall record, and has been named the national coach of the year and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.
Aztecs at Wyoming on Saturday Afternoon
