SAN DIEGO - Winners of 10 of its last 11 games, including a 4-1 record in Mountain West home games, the No. 22-ranked San Diego State men's basketball team faces the Boise State Broncos on Friday evening at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena in a clash of the top two teams in the Mountain West standings.
OFF THE BOUNCE
Diego State has won 29 of its last 33 conference home contests (29-4), since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and overall has emerged the victor in 11 of its last 12 and 21 of its last 23 Mountain West home games.
The Aztecs are battle tested having played the fourth toughest schedule in the nation based on its average opponent's NET rank. Only two schools in the AP Top 25 have played a tougher schedule than the Aztecs; No. 8 Kansas with the toughest schedule and No. 4 Alabama matched SDSU with the fourth most difficult schedule. Tonight's opponent, Boise State, has played the 65th most difficult schedule.
Since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, San Diego State's 195-25 (.886) record in home games is the seventh best in the nation and overall the Aztecs' 349-114 (.754) record is the sixth best in the nation.
The last time out, San Diego State played its third of four games in a 10-day stretch in a 66-75 loss at Nevada. The setback snapped a nine-game win streak for SDSU against the Wolf Pack, regardless of location.
With its 82-76 win at Colorado State (January 18), the Aztecs improved to 18-3 in their last 21 games immediately following a loss. In situations where a loss is followed immediately by a home game, San Diego State has won 24 consecutive games.
SDSU is 8-2 in its last 10 Mountain West road games and 23-6 since Dec. 4, 2013 as a visitor in Mountain West arenas.
SDSU is 50-1 in its last 51 games and has won 38 straight games in which it has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field, which it last did against Nevada on January 10 in a 74-65 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 776 games.
On Saturday evening, San Diego State and Boise State will meet for the 28th time overall and for the first time during the 2022-23 campaign. The Aztecs own a 17-10 series advantage. At Viejas Arena, SDSU is 8-3, and overall is 9-3 against the Broncos in games in San Diego.
The last time San Diego State played Boise State was on March 12, 2022, in the championship game of the 2022 Mountain West tournament. SDSU came out on the short end of a 53-52 decision.
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. 37 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. 31 through 22 games this year and SDSU is No. 29 in adjusted efficiency margin.
San Diego State has appeared in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll for 95 weeks since the start of 2010-11 season. SDSU's 95 weeks in the top 25 are the 18th most nationally and are the most for any California school in that time.
SDSU enters tonight's game battle tested, including having played the fewest Quad 4 games, one, among the 363 Division I schools who compete in men's basketball. The only team with fewer than four Quad 4 games is Kansas which has played three 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 owns a 52-5 record (91.2 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign in home games. That's the fifth best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 54-1, Liberty (56-4), Kansas (55-4) and Houston (57-5), and better than Baylor's 50-5.
Senior Matt Bradley finished the Nevada game with a team-high 16 points. It was the 111th double-digit scoring effort of his career, the 14th time this season and the 10th time he has paced the team in points in 2022-23. In addition he knocked down multiple 3-pointers for the first time in the last five contests and the eighth time overall this season.
Jaedon LeDee, a senior forward, pulled down five rebounds, a team-best, and scored eight points at Nevada. He shot 3-of-4 from the field (.750), the fifth straight game shooting over 40.0 percent and the 14th time this season he made at least 50.0 percent of his shots.
Junior guard Lamont Butler led the team with five assists in Reno. It marked the seventh time this season and the 11th time in his Aztec career he has paced the team in dimes.
Guard Darrion Trammell, a senior, reached double figure scoring against the Wolf Pack, totaling 10 points. It is the 11th time this season and the 60th time in his college career (75 games) has scored at least 10 points in a 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 136-45 (.751) overall record, the eighth best in the nation in since he became head coach, has been named the national coach of the year and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.