SAN DIEGO – With a 4-2 league record and coming off a 66-67 setback at Boise State, San Diego State looks to get back in the saddle in Mountain West play when it hosts Wyoming on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Cowboys are meeting for the 92nd time, with SDSU owning a 50-41 advantage in the all-time series. In the Mountain West era, SDSU owns a 32-17 lead in the series, including an 18-5 mark at Viejas Arena.
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.
Once again San Diego State is one of the elite teams when it comes to challenging itself. According to Kenpom, the Aztecs have the No. 5 strength of schedule rating trailing only Purdue (No. 1), Tennessee (No. 2), Arizona (No. 3) & Marquette (No. 4). SDSU has faced the No. 7 rated schedule in opponents adjusted offensive efficiency, the No. 9 rated schedule in opponents adjusted defensive efficiency, and has the No. 12 rated non-conference schedule.
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 seventh best road record in the nation, 104-63 (62.3 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just 13 times in 46 road games (33-13, 71.7 percent), which is tied for the second fewest in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (5 losses) and tied with Baylor (13 losses) in that time frame and its 71.7 winning percentage in road games is the second best in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (31-6, 83.8 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 an 83-11 (.883) record in Mountain West home games, the best mark in the conference. Boise State has the second-best record 75-19 (.796).
The Aztecs metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of January 21, the Aztecs were ranked No. 20 in the NET, No. 22 in Kenpom, No. 29 in T-Rank, No. 19 in KPI and No. 39 in BPI. San Diego State RPI strength of schedule is No. 5 and its strength of record is No. 14.
San Diego State enters the Wyoming game with a 6-4 record in Quad 1 & 2 games this season, including a 2-4 record in Quad 1 games. Its four losses have been on the road at some 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, at New Mexico (70-88) in front of the largest crowd it has had since the 2009 season and at Boise State (66-67) in front to its second biggest home crowd this year.
SDSU is 137-10 the last 147 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 123-27 record (82.0 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (134-18, 88.2 percent) and Houston (132-24, 84.6 percent).
At Boise State, senior forward Jaedon LeDee led the Aztecs with 13 points and 8 rebounds. It marked the 18th time in 18 games this year he has reached double figure scoring and the 37th time in his career. Twenty-nine of his 37 double-digit scoring games have come in the 57 games he has played for San Diego State. He led the team in scoring for the 14th time this season.
Junior wing Reese Waters reached double figure scoring at Boise State, 10 points. It is the 13th time this season and 29th of his college career he has totaled at least 10 points in a game. He scored in double figures for the second game in a row and second time in six conference games. His +11 plus/minus ration was the highest in the game.
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 166-51 (.765) 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 Host Wyoming on Tuesday Evening
