SAN DIEGO – Coming off the championship of the 2023 Continental Tire Main Event, the San Diego State men's basketball team is prepped for its game against the University of California at the SoCal Showcase on Saturday at the Pavilion in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Golden Bears are meeting for the 14th time, with San Diego State owning a 7-6 advantage in the all-time series. The teams will meet on a neutral floor for the third time, with SDSU holding a 2-0 lead in games played on a neutral court.
San Diego State was led by Jaedon LeDee's career-highs 34 points and 17 rebounds in outlasting Washington, 100-97 in overtime, to secure the championship of the Continental Tire Main Event last week. It was the Aztecs' third championship in four Las Vegas MTEs (see the graphic on page 5).
Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Aztecs are among the elite at winning on neutral floors. In a minimum of 95 neutral site games since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, SDSU has more than doubled its win total compared to its losses (66-32; 67.3 percent). Gonzaga is the only other team in the top-10 who is not a member of a Power 6 basketball conference.
Last weekend, San Diego State competed in its fourth MTE in Las Vegas, all coming since the start of the 2010-11 season. In its "Sin City" MTEs, the Aztecs have an overall record of 7-1, and have been crowned champions of 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic (2-0) and 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational (2-0), and 2023 Continental Tire Main Event (2-0). In its other Las Vegas MTE appearance, it finished runner-up (1-1) in the 2015 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.
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 112-24 record (82.4 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (125-14, 88.9 percent) and Houston (122-22, 84.7 percent). The 10 winningest programs since 2019-20 are listed in the box below.
San Diego State, in its 100-97 overtime win against Washington in the final of the Continental Tire Main Event, attempted a season-high 41 free throws; the most in a game since it attempted 41 against Fresno State on Jan. 15, 2014), and the Aztecs knocked down a season best 31 free throws, which are the most since it hit 31 against Wyoming on March 1, 2006.
Senior Jaedon LeDee led the Aztecs' attack against Washington with his fifth 20-point effort (a career-high 34 points) in as many games this season. In addition, the Houston, Texas native led the Scarlet and Black with a career-best 17 rebounds. He is the first Aztec since at least the start of the Dutcher/Fisher era to open a season with five straight 20-plus point efforts. LeDee is the second player in the last 10 years to open a season with five 20+ point games while scoring at least 55.0 percent shooting. The other was Dayton's Obi Toppin in 2019-20 who went on to win the Wooden Award. LeDee, through four games, has drawn 47 fouls (9.4 /game) which he has used to go to the charity stripe 53 times and where he has made 41 attempts (77.4 percent).
Junior guard Reese Waters, a transfer from Southern California, reached double figure scoring, 13 points against Washington, for the fifth game in a row. He shot 100 percent from the line (6-of-6) and dished out two assists and blocked a shot.
Senior guard Micah Parrish added 15 points with three assists and two steals.
Elijah Saunders, a sophomore guard, scored a career-high 16 points and matched a career-best with 8 rebounds. He was 3-of-3 from the bonus distance, 4-of-8 from the field, knocked down 5-of-6 free throws, with an assist, a steal and a block.
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 155-48 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.
Aztecs Play California in SoCal Showcase Saturday
