SAN DIEGO – With a 4-1 league record and a share of first place in the conference standings, San Diego State looks to return to its winning ways in Mountain West road play when it travels to Boise State and plays on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT/10 a.m. PT at ExtraMile Arena.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Broncos are meeting for the 30th time, with SDSU owning an 18-11 advantage in the all-time series. In the Mountain West era, SDSU owns a 17-11 lead in the series, including a 4-7 mark in games in Boise.
The Aztecs are 24-3 in their last 27 games immediately following a loss. In situations where a loss is followed immediately by a home game, San Diego State has won 31 consecutive games.
Having won eight of its last nine games, including a victory at Gonzaga which has lost just twice in the last 92 home games and a 4-1 mark in league play, San Diego State is receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 and at No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, San Diego State has been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 104 weeks, the most for any Division I program in the state of California.
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, 104-62 (62.7 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just 12 times in 45 road games (33-12, 73.3 percent), which is tied for the second fewest in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (5 losses) and tied with Baylor (12 losses) in that time frame and its 73.3 winning percentage in road games is the second best in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (29-6, 82.9 percent) with one of the Zags' six losses coming at the hands of the Aztecs, 84-74 on Dec. 29, 2023.
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, when the current slate of MW members was finalized, SDSU has a 83-11 (.883) record in Mountain West home games, the best mark in the conference. Boise State has the second-best record 74-19 (.796).
Once again San Diego State's metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of January 17, the Aztecs were ranked No. 20 in the NET, No. 21 in Kenpom, No. 23 in T-Rank, No. 13 in KPI and No. 42 in BPI. San Diego State RPI strength of schedule is No. 5 and its strength of record is No. 11.
San Diego State enters the Boise State game with a 6-3 record in Quad 1 & 2 games this season, including a 2-3 record in Quad 1 games. Its three losses have been on the road at three of the toughest venues to play in for an opposing team. The Aztecs lost at Brigham Young (65-74) in front of its second largest crowd of the season, at Grand Canyon (73-79) in front of its largest crowd and at New Mexico (70-88) in front of the largest crowd it has had since the 2009 season.
SDSU is 137-9 the last 146 times it has shot better than its opponent and the Aztecs have won 30 straight games when scoring between 80-89 points.
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.
San Diego State owns a 123-26 record (82.6 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (132-18, 88.0 percent) and Houston (131-24, 84.5 percent).
Against Nevada, senior forward Jaedon LeDee led the Aztecs with 22 points, added 12 rebounds for his ninth double double of the year and 11th of his career, all as an Aztec. It marked the 17th time in 17 games this year he has reached double figure scoring and the 36th time in his career. Twenty-eight of his 36 double-digit scoring games have come in the 56 games he has played for San Diego State. He led the team in scoring for the 13th time this season.
Junior wing Reese Waters reached double figure scoring versus Nevada, 14 points. It is the 12th time this season and 28th of his college career he has totaled 10-plus points in a game and equaled his season best with four boards. He scored in double figures for the first time in five conference games (since Dec. 29, 2023 at Gonzaga). His +17 plus/minus ration was the highest in the game.
Senior guard Lamont Butler scored 10 points against Nevada, his fourth double-digit point game in his last seven, the seventh of the campaign and 33rd as an Aztec. He matched a season best with four rebounds and paced the team with three assists. He had multiple steals in the game, for the third time this year, and the 38th time in his career (SDSU is 34-4 in those games).
Finishing with eight points, senior forward Jay Pal passed the 700-point milestone in the team's game against Nevada. He pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds and logged his ninth double-digit rebounding game of his college 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 166-50 (.769) 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 at Boise State on Saturday Morning
