SAN DIEGO - Winners of 11 of its last 13 games, including a first-place 9-2 mark in Mountain West games, the No. 25-ranked San Diego State men's basketball team faces the Utah State Aggies on Wednesday evening at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a venue in which Utah State has lost just 11 times since the start of the 2019-20 season.
OFF THE BOUNCE
San Diego State has won 30 of its last 34 conference home contests (30-4), since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and overall has emerged the victor in 12 of its last 13 and 22 of its last 24 Mountain West home games.
The Aztecs are battle tested having played the sixth toughest schedule in the nation based on its average opponent's NET rank, through the games of February 5. Only school in the AP Top 25 to have played a tougher schedule than the Aztecs is No. 9 Kansas with the toughest schedule in the nation. Tonight's opponent, Utah State, has played the 40th most difficult schedule.
Since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, San Diego State's 98-58 (.628) record in road games is the sixth best in the nation and overall the Aztecs' 350-114 (.754) record is also the sixth best in the nation.
The last time out, San Diego State completed four games in a 10-day stretch (3-1) with a 72-52 destruction of Boise State. The victory snapped a three-game slide for SDSU against the Broncos, regardless of location, and it was the second worst beating Boise State had taken at the hands of a Mountain West team since it joined the league in the 2011-12 season.
With its 72-52 win vs. Boise State (February 3), the Aztecs improved to 19-3 in their last 22 games immediately following a loss. In situations where a loss is followed immediately by a home game, San Diego State has won 25 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 51-1 in its last 52 games and has won 39 straight games in which it has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field, which it last did against Boise State (51.0 percent) on February 3 in a 72-52 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 777 games.
On Wednesday evening, San Diego State and Utah State will meet for the 26th time overall and the second time during the 2022-23 campaign. The Aztecs own a 16-9 series advantage. At Viejas Arena, SDSU is 9-1, but just 4-5 in Logan including a 4-4 mark in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The last time San Diego State played Utah State was on January 25, in Viejas Arena. The Aztecs defeated the Aggies 85-75. The 85 points for the Aztecs are the most it has scored since an 85-point output against San Jose State on February 8, 2021.
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. 31 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. 30 through 23 games this year and SDSU is No. 22 in adjusted efficiency margin.
San Diego State has appeared in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll for 96 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 frame.
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 has a 27-8 record (77.1 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.
San Diego State owns a 53-5 record (91.4 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign in home games. That's the seventh best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 55-1, South Dakota State (46-2), Liberty (56-4), Kansas (55-4), Nicholls (39-3) and Houston (57-5), and better than Baylor's 51-5.
Senior Nathan Mensah finished the Boise State win with a game-high 17 points. It was his fifth 10-plus point game of the season and the 32nd double-digit scoring effort of his career (32-4). The 17 points are also the most the Accra, Ghana native has scored in a MW game. In addition, his six rebounds were a game-high and marked the 12th time this season and 48th time in his Aztecs career he led the team in boards.
Senior Keshad Johnson, against Boise State, scored in double figures for the 10th time this season, sixth time in the last eight games, and 22nd time of his career. In addition, he was perfect from the floor (5-for-5) for the first time of his career (min. 5 FGA).
Junior guard Lamont Butler totaled five assists for the third straight game. Over those three games (72 minutes), he has 15 assists and three turnovers for a 5.0:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The five assists are one shy of tying a career high.
Guard Darrion Trammell, a senior, had a season-high seven assists. The last time he had seven assists in a game was Feb. 26, 2022 against Dixie State while he played for Seattle University.
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 137-45 (.753) 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.