SAN DIEGO - Having opened the conference slate 2-0 for the 11th time since the start of the 2007-08 season, San Diego State looks to move to 3-0 in Mountain West play when it plays at San Jose State on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. PT at Provident Credit Union Event Center.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Spartans are meeting for the 83rd time, with SDSU owning a 47-35 advantage in the all-time series, a 17-1 mark as Mountain West opponents, including a 6-4 record at Provident Credit Union Event Center.
Riding a six-game win streak, including a victory at Gonzaga which has lost just twice in the last 92 home games, San Diego State jumped back in both national polls at No. 19/19. It is the 104th week the Aztecs have been ranked since the start of the 2010-11 season, the most for any Division I program in the state of California.
Since the start of the 2019-20 season, SDSU has a 35-4 record in Mountain West home games and is in the midst of an eight-game win streak against conference opponents at Steve Fisher Court.
Once again San Diego State's metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of January 7, the Aztecs were ranked No. 21 in the NET, No. 22 in T-Rank, No. 21 in Kenpom, No. 19 in KPI and No. 42 in BPI. San Diego State RPI strength of schedule is No. 5 and its strength of record is No. 10.
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, 103-61 (62.8 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just 11 times in 43 road games (32-11, 74.4 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.
The last time out, San Diego State defeated UNLV 72-61 at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. It was the Aztecs' sixth straight win against UNLV and has won 11 of the last 12 (11-1) in the series and 22 of the last 24 (22-2) since Jan. 18, 2014.
SDSU's last five victories have been by double-digits (the two previous San Diego State wins were by one point apiece), the Aztecs' longest streak of double-digit wins inside a winning streak since a nine-game stretch from Jan. 22-Feb. 25, 2021 (SDSU won 12 straight games overall from Jan. 22-Nov. 9, 2021).
SDSU is 136-9 the last 145 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 121-25 record (82.9 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (132-17, 88.6 percent) and Houston (130-22, 85.5 percent).
Against UNLV, senior forward Jaedon LeDee recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds. LeDee now has two of SDSU's three games with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals in the last 10-plus seasons (since 2013-14) (Jan. 3 vs. UNLV and Nov. 14 vs. Long Beach State), joining Jalen McDaniels (Jan. 26, 2019 vs. UNLV).
Senior wing Micah Parrish finished the UNLV game with 14 points and led the team with three steals and added two rebounds. He reached double figure scoring for the 10th time in 14 appearances this year and for the 52nd time in his college career. He knocked down multiple three-pointers for the sixth time this season and 40th time of his career and logged his third game of the season with at least three steals.
Senior guard Darrion Trammell totaled 10 points against UNLV to go along with two rebounds, two steals and an assist. It was his fifth 10-plus point effort this season, all in the last seven games and the 72nd time in his career. He recorded multiple steals for the fourth time this season (SDSU is 4-0) and 51st time of his career.
Senior forward Jay Pal scored all of his seven points in the game from the free throw line. The seven made free throws and eight free-throw attempts were both season highs and he matched a season high with six rebounds (second straight 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 164-49 (.770) 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.