SAN DIEGO – Making just its third appearance in Viejas Arena, the University of Saint Katherine travels 33 miles south from San Marcos, Calif., to take on San Diego State on Tuesday night at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Firebirds are meeting for the third time, with San Diego State taking the previous two meetings, both at Steve Fisher Court, by an average of 62.5 points.
When San Diego State tips off against Saint Katherine it will play one of the five institutions in San Diego County for the 35th time in Viejas Arena since the start of the 2001-02 season. In that time frame, the Aztecs are 33-1 overall with its lone loss coming against San Diego on Dec. 5, 2018.
Once again San Diego State's metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of December 17, the Aztecs were ranked No. 25 in the NET, No. 30 in T-Rank, No. 31 in Kenpom, No. 21 in KPI and No. 56 in BPI. San Diego State RPI strength of schedule is No. 5 and its strength of record is No. 26.
The Aztecs are among the elite programs in the country and that includes winning on its home floor. Since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, SDSU has the seventh best home record in the nation, 203-25 (89.0 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just five times in 65 home games (60-5, 92.3 percent), which is tied for the third fewest home losses in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (1 loss) and Kansas (4 losses) in that time frame.
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 No. 17 in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll and after dropping out for two weeks, returned at No. 25 this week. 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 103 weeks, more than any program in the state of California, ahead of UCLA (86 weeks), Saint Mary's (53 weeks), Southern California (38 weeks) and California (11 weeks).
Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, San Diego State owns the third best record in the nation, 116-25 record (82.3 percent). The3 Aztecs are trailing only Gonzaga (129-16, 89.0 percent) and Houston (127-22, 85.2 percent) in overall winning percentage in that time frame.
With its 63-62 win over UC Irvine (Dec. 9), San Diego State moved to 10-0 in its last 10 games decided by one score (three points or less). The last one score loss for the Aztecs came in a 72-69 defeat against Creighton in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament (March 17, 2022).
Junior wing Reese Waters finished the UC Irvine game with 11 points and 12 rebounds for his first collegiate double double in his 82nd career game. Each of Waters' 12 boards came on the defensive glass and he joined Trey Kell (March 1, 2017 vs. Air Force) as the only Aztecs in the Dutcher/Fisher era to have a game of at least 12 rebounds without at least one coming on the offensive glass. Nationally, he is one of 12 players this season to accomplish the feat and one of two in the Mountain West (also: Tru Washington of New Mexico).
Senior wing Micah Parrish finished the UC Irvine game with his seventh 10-plus point effort (14 points) this season. In the last two seasons, Parrish has spoiled the fortunes of the Anteaters in Viejas Arena. Last season, he hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds to play to secure a 72-69 victory, and on the evening of the ninth his layup with 11 seconds to play was the game winner in a 63-62 win for San Diego State.
After going 4-of-4 from the free throw line against UC Irvine, Reese Waters continues to lead the nation in free throw percentage shooting. The junior from Long Beach, Calif., is 40-of-40 from the line this season and is the only player in Division I who has yet to miss a free throw attempt this year. (To qualify a player must make 2.5 free throws per game and play in a minimum of 75 percent of his team's game
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Senior forward Jay Pal had a season-high 15 points against UC Irvine. It was his first game in double-digits since he put together an eight-game streak of 10-plus points to close out the 2022-23 season. In the UCI game, he also had season-bests of four rebounds, two 3-pointers, five free throws and 24 minutes.
Darrion Trammell, a senior guard playing in his 101st college game, scored in double figures, with 10 points, versus UC Irvine. It was the second time this season he was in double digits (also at Grand Canyon), the 20th time as an Aztec and 69th in his career.
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 159-49 (.764) 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 Saint Katherine Tuesday Night
