SAN DIEGO - In possession of at least a share of the Mountain West regular season title, No. 18 San Diego State plays Wyoming in its regular-season finale on Saturday night at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
OFF THE BOUNCE
In a pregame ceremony, San Diego State will honor eight seniors who will be playing in their final game on Steve Fisher Court: Aguek Arop, Jarred Barnett, Matt Bradley, Triston Broughton, Tyler Broughton, Keshad Johnson, Nathan Mensah & Adam Seiko.
San Diego State has won a league record 15 regular season (nine) and tournament titles (six) and will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MW Tournament.
San Diego State owns a share of the Mountain West regular-season title and with a victory against Wyoming, San Diego State will win the outright regular season Mountain West title.
San Diego State has lost three times in Mountain West play, but avoided a season sweep to each of those teams: New Mexico, Nevada & Boise State
San Diego State has won 33 of its last 38 conference contests (33-5), since the start of the 20219-20 campaign, and overall has emerged the victor in nine of its last 11 (9-2) and 17 of its last 22 (17-5) Mountain West road games.
San Diego State owns a 99-22 record (81.8 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That's the fifth best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 116-12 (90.6 percent), Houston's 110-20 (84.6 percent) and Baylor's 103-21 (83.1 percent), and Kansas' 108-23 (82.4 percent).
San Diego State owns the sixth-best record in the nation, since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, 355-115 (.755), and is 101-59 (.631) road contests in that time frame which is the fifth best in the nation.
San Diego State has a 30-9 record (76.9 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 29-4 record (87.9 percent).
The last time out, San Diego State lost at Boise State, 60-66. The game marked just the Aztecs 'second true road loss on the season and those two losses are tied for second fewest in the nation.
SDSU is 14-1 in its last 15 Mountain West home games and 79-11 since January 8, 2013, as a host in Mountain West games.
SDSU is 52-1 in its last 53 games and has won 40 straight games in which it has shot at least 50.0 percent from the field, which it last did against UNLV (51.7 percent) on February 11 in its 82-71 win.
The Aztecs are battle tested having played the eighth toughest schedule in the nation based on its average opponent's NET rank, through the games of March. There are three schools, which are ranked higher in the AP Top 25 that have a tougher schedule than San Diego State, but SDSU is the only program from a men's basketball non-power conference. Wyoming has played the 41st most difficult schedule.
On Saturday evening, San Diego State and Wyoming will meet for the 91st time overall and for the second time during the 2022-23 campaign. SDSU leads the Cowboys 49-41 in the all-time series and the Aztecs have won the last nine meetings, regardless of location. In San Diego, SDSU is 30-11overall, including 17-5 at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
San Diego State's calling card is defense, and it is again playing it at a high level according to Kenpom, which, through the games of March 2, has the Aztecs ranked No. 14 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. 44 through 29 games this year and SDSU is No. 16 in adjusted efficiency margin.
San Diego State has appeared in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll for 99 weeks since the start of 2010-11 season. SDSU's 99 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 (1), among the 363 Division I schools who compete in men's basketball. The only teams with fewer than three Quad 4 games and ranked ahead of the Aztecs is No. 2 Alabama and No. 16 Arkansas which have played two (2) 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, earned an unprecedented 15th Mountain West men's basketball title in a win at New Mexico (2-25-23). San Diego State, the most successful program in conference history, has now won all or part of nine regular season and six Mountain West tournament titles.
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 781 games.
Senior Matt Bradley finished the Boise State game with a team-high 16 points. It was his 20th 10-plus point game of the season and 117th of his career and the sixth straight game with at least 10 points. In addition, his six rebounds also led the squad.
Junior Micah Parrish scored at least 10 points for the eighth time this season and second in the last three games. He shot 50.0+ percent from the floor for the 12th time in 2022-23 and in those games the Aztecs are 10-2.
Brian Dutcher is now in his sixth season as SDSU's head coach and his 24th on the Aztec sidelines. In his tenure as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to five conference titles, five MW championship game appearances, a 142-46 (.755) 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.