SAN DIEGO - Playing for just the fifth time, the two most dominant teams on the West Coast, San Diego State and Gonzaga, will matchup at The Kennel on Friday evening with tip slated for 6 p.m. PT.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Bulldogs are meeting for the fifth time, with the all-time series tied 2-2, and for just the fourth time since Nov. 11, 2010.
When San Diego State tips off at Gonzaga it will play the one West Coast Conference (WCC) team that it has a .500 record against (SDSU is 2-2 vs. the Bulldogs). The Aztecs have a winning record against six WCC programs and are trailing in the all-time series with the two remaining WCC schools.
Once again San Diego State's metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of December 26, the Aztecs were ranked No. 29 in the NET, No. 34 in T-Rank, No. 30 in Kenpom, No. 32 in KPI and No. 60 in BPI. San Diego State RPI strength of schedule is No. 5, and its strength of record is No. 24.
The Aztecs are among the elite programs in the country and that includes winning on their opponent's floor. Since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, SDSU has the fifth best road record in the nation, 102-61(62.6 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just 11 times in 42 road games (31-11, 73.8 percent), which is tied for the second fewest in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (5 losses) and tied with Baylor (11 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).
San Diego State owns a 118-25 record (82.5 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (130-16, 89.0 percent) and Houston (128-22, 85.3 percent).
Against Stanford (12/21), senior guard Lamont Butler had his best game of the 2023-24 season. He finished the game with 18 points on 7-of-13 (.538) shooting from the field, including knocking down three-of-six 3-pointers with four assists and four steals. His four assists were a game-high, paced the team, and marked the sixth time this year (5-1) he has had at least four assists. He added a game-best four steals and had a block. Butler is the third Aztec under Brian Dutcher to record at least 18 points, 4 assists and 4 steals in a game, joining current Toronto Raptors Malachi Flynn (Jan. 21, 2020 vs. Wyoming) and Jalen McDaniels (Jan. 26, 2019 vs. UNLV).
Junior forward Jaedon LeDee finished the Stanford game with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Despite picking up two fouls in the first 1:34 and sitting the remainder of the first half, he reached double figure scoring for the 11th time in 11 games this year.
Senior wing Micah Parrish finished the Stanford game with his eighth 10-plus point effort (10 points) in 12 games this season. In addition, he grabbed five rebounds and when he finishes a game with a minimum of four boards, the Aztecs are 26-3.
In the Stanford game, senior wing Jay Pal had multiple three-pointers for the second time this season (each over the last three games). Pal is 4-for-5 over the last three games from beyond the arc after starting the season 0-for-3.
Freshman forward Miles Heide grabbed seven rebounds in 16:32 in the first half against Stanford without playing in the second half. Heide has 16 rebounds over his last two games in just 28 minutes (22.9 rebounds per 40 minutes).
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 161-49 (.767) 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.
West Coast Powers Clash at Gonzaga on Friday Night
