SAN DIEGO – Starting the 2023-24 campaign with a win at home against Cal State Fullerton followed by a loss at Brigham Young in its first two games, the San Diego State men's basketball team play Long Beach State at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena on Tuesday evening in the first of three games in a six-day stretch.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Beach are meeting for the 62nd time, with San Diego State holding a 39-to-22 advantage in the all-time series. Among games played on the Aztecs home floor, SDSU has more than doubled up Long Beach State in victories, 21-to-10, and dating back to Feb. 2, 1978 have taken 10 of the past 11 matchups in America's Finest City.
San Diego State's 25-point win (72-47) on Nov. 30, 2021 is the Beach's worst non-conference loss in nearly two years. In the Division I history between these programs (since the start of the 1970-71 season), the Aztecs 25-point win ranks second to a 27-point victory over the Beach on Jan. 29, 1976, in Peterson Gym.
Entering tonight's game, San Diego State's 61 meetings with the Beach are the fourth most for the program against a current non-conference Division I opponent, trailing UC Santa Barbara (93 games), Brigham Young (77), and Utah (74).
The game against Long Beach State is the team's Nike N7 game, honoring Native American and Aboriginal communities. Since its creation in 2009, the Nike N7 Fund has awarded more than $7 million in grants to Native American and Aboriginal communities and organizations, reaching more than 500,000 youths. The N7 Fund supports organizations that provide sport and physical activity programming to youth in these communities.
On its home floor, San Diego State has won 29 straight contests against Big West teams and since the start of at least the 1996-97 season is 36-6 at home against members of the conference. The Aztecs have not lost a home game against a Big West opponent on its home floor since a 72-80 overtime defeat at the hands of UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 11, 2004.
San Diego State, which won both the 2022-23 Mountain West regular season and tournament titles and reached the league tournament championship game for the sixth time in head coach Brian Dutcher's six seasons, looks for its unprecedented 17th Mountain West men's basketball title. Entering the 2023-24 season, San Diego State has won nine regular season and seven Mountain West tournament titles.
For the fifth time since the start of the 2010-11 season, San Diego State opened the season ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. The Aztecs No. 17 ranking in the initial poll is the second highest in program history, trailing only the 2014-15 preseason poll in which it was No. 16. Since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, SDSU has appeared in the AP poll for 102 weeks, more than any program in the state of California, ahead of UCLA (86 weeks), Saint Mary's (53 weeks), Southern California (37 weeks) and California (11 weeks).
San Diego State owns a 109-24 record (82.0 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (122-13, 90.4 percent) and Houston (118-22, 84.3 percent). The 10 winningest programs since 2019-20 are listed in the box below.
Despite outshooting Brigham Young from the floor (.448-to-.426), San Diego State lost 65-74 in Provo on Friday evening. It was the 31st loss on the Cougars' home court against just four wins for the Aztecs.
Senior Jaedon LeDee led the Aztecs' attack at Brigham Young with his second 20-point effort (21 points) in as many games this season. In addition, the Houston, Texas native led the Scarlet and Black with seven rebounds and added an assist, steal and block. LeDee drew 10 fouls and in two games this season has drawn an astounding 23 fouls.
Junior guard Reese Waters, a transfer from Southern California, reached double figure scoring with 15 points for the second game in a row. He matched a career-best with two blocked shots and equaled a season high with two assists and pulled down four rebounds, a season-best.
Senior guard Darrion Trammell, 2023 NCAA Tournament South Regional Most Outstanding Player, made his season debut at Brigham Young. In slightly less than 22 minutes (21:47), he scored seven points on 3-of-6 shooting, including hitting a trey, grabbed a rebound and had a steal.
Brian Dutcher is in his seventh season as San Diego State's head coach and his 25th season on the Aztec sidelines. In his six-plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to five conference titles, six Mountain West championship game appearances, a 152-48 overall record, the 2023 NCAA national championship game, has been named the national coach of the year, and twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.
Men's Hoops Host Long Beach State Tuesday Evening
