SAN DIEGO - The No. 21-ranked San Diego State men's basketball team, in sole possession of first place in the Mountain West, faces the Fresno State on Wednesday at the Bulldogs' Save Mart Center in Fresno, a venue where the Aztecs have defeated Fresno State in five of its last seven meetings, including the last four in a row.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State has won 24 of its last 30 conference road contests (24-6), since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and overall has emerged the victor in 7 of its last 8 (7-1) and 15 of its last 19 (15-4) Mountain West road games.
The Aztecs are battle tested having played the eighth toughest schedule in the nation based on its average opponent's NET rank, through the games of February 13. The only schools in the AP Top 25 to have played a tougher schedule than the Aztecs is No. 1 Alabama with the seventh most difficult slate, No. 5 Kansas with the toughest schedule in the nation and No. 9 Baylor which has played the fifth hardest schedule. Fresno State has played the 56th most difficult schedule.
San Diego State owns the fifth-best road record in the nation, since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, 99-58 (.631) and its 352-114 (.755) overall record in that time frame, 351-114 (.755), is the sixth best in the nation.
The last time out, San Diego State completed a regular season sweep of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels with an 82-71. The Aztecs improved to 38-20 against UNLV in the Mountain West era and in the last 47 games between the two programs, San Diego State is 36-11, regardless of location.
SDSU is 13-1 in its last 14 Mountain West home games and 78-11 since January 8, 2013, as a host in Mountain West games.
SDSU is 52-1 in its last 53 games and has won 40 straight games in which it has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field, which it last did against UNLV (51.7 percent) on February 11 in its 82-71 win.
San Diego State committed only three turnovers in its game against San Jose State. That is the fewest for an Aztec team, in a Division 1 game, since the start of the 1999-00 season, a span of 778 games.
On Wednesday evening, San Diego State and Fresno State will meet for the 126th time and the only matchup during the 2022-23 campaign. The Aztecs own a 69-56 series advantage. At Viejas Arena, SDSU is 8-5, and an astounding 9-4 at the Save Mart Center, including a 4-0 mark there since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.
The last time San Diego State played Fresno State was in the quarterfinal of the Mountain West on March 10, 2022, at Thomas & Mack Center. The Aztecs defeated the Bulldogs 53-46. The 46 points the Aztecs allowed were its second fewest that season, it held Fresno State to 44 in the Save Mart Center earlier that season (Feb 2, 2022).
San Diego State's calling card is defense, and it is again playing it at a high level according to Kenpom, which has the Aztecs ranked No. 26 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. 32 through 25 games this year and SDSU is No. 17 in adjusted efficiency margin.
San Diego State has appeared in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll for 97 weeks since the start of 2010-11 season. SDSU's 97 weeks in the top 25 are the 18th most nationally and are the most for any California school in that time frame.
SDSU enters tonight's game battle tested, including having played the fewest Quad 4 games, one (1), among the 363 Division I schools who compete in men's basketball. The only team with fewer than four Quad 4 games and ranked ahead of the Aztecs is No. 2 Alabama which has played three (3) games against Quad 4 competition.
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 has a 28-8 record (77.8 percent) in true road games since the start of the 2019-20 season. That is the second best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga's 27-4 record (78.1 percent).
San Diego State owns a 96-21 record (82.1 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That's the fourth best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 111-12, Baylor (101-19), and Houston (106-20), and better than Kansas' 103-23.
Senior Matt Bradley finished the UNLV win with 17 points. It was his 16th 10-plus point game of the season and the 113th double-digit scoring effort of his career. He was 6-of-8 from the field and in his last two games is shooting an astounding 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) from the floor.
Senior Adam Seiko led the Aztecs with 18 points against UNLV all coming from the bonus distance. He was 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, marking the third time this season he has made as many as six 3-pointers in a game (3-0) and in those games is shot 67.9 percent from distance (19-of-28).
Senior Nathan Mensah had a double double (11 points & 11 rebounds) for the second time this season and the eighth time as an Aztec (7-1)
Brian Dutcher is now in his sixth season as SDSU's head coach and his 24th on the Aztec sidelines. In his five-plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to four conference titles, five MW championship game appearances, a 139-45 (.755) overall record - eighth best in the nation, has been named the national coach of the year and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.