SAN DIEGO – Looking to capitalize on its 81-67 win over No. 17 Utah State on Saturday, No. 24 San Diego State men's basketball travels to USAFA, Colo., to face the Air Force Falcons on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT at Clune Arena.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Falcons are meeting for the 89th time, with SDSU owning a 64-24 advantage in the all-time series. In the Mountain West era, SDSU owns a 34-14 lead in the series, but is just 12-11 at Clune Arena.
San Diego State is 10-4 in Clune Arena since Jan. 3, 2009. Nine of those 10 wins have been by at least 10 points and in those 10 victories the Aztecs have won by an average of 19.2 points, while its four losses are by an average of 5.5 points.
With its 81-67 win over No. 17 Utah State, SDSU improved to 13-9 (.591), since the start of 2017-18, against AP top 25 teams, which in a minimum of 20 games, is the fifth best in the nation trailing only Virginia (.619), Kansas (.608), Duke (.600) and Arizona (.594).
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. 10 strength of schedule rating, including the No. 9 rated non-conference schedule. SDSU has faced the No. 9 rated schedule in opponents adjusted offensive efficiency and the No. 17 rated schedule in opponents adjusted defensive efficiency.
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, when the current slate of MW members was finalized, SDSU has an 57-34 (.626) record in Mountain West ROAD games, the best mark in the conference. Boise State has the second-best record 48-45 (.516).
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, 104-64 (61.9 percent). Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, SDSU has lost just 14 times in 47 road games (33-14, 70.2 percent), which is the third fewest in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (6 losses) and Baylor (13 losses) and its 70.2 winning percentage in road games in that time frame is the third best in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (32-6, 84.2 percent) with one of the Zags' six losses coming at the hands of the Aztecs, 84-74 on Dec. 29, 2023 and Baylor (31-13; 70.5 percent).
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, when the current slate of MW members was finalized, SDSU has an 85-11 (.885) record in Mountain West HOME games, the best mark in the conference. Boise State has the second-best record 76-20 (.792) and Colorado State is 61-33 (.649).
The Aztecs metrics rank among the best in the nation. Through the games of February 4, the Aztecs were ranked No. 20 in the NET, No. 20 in Kenpom, No. 25 in T-Rank, No. 12 in KPI and No. 36 in BPI. San Diego State's strength of record is No. 20.
Senior Jaedon LeDee surpassed the 1,000-career point milestone at Colorado State and enters the Air Force game with 1,027 points, 735 of which have come in 60 games with the Aztecs while in his first 79 games at both Ohio State and TCU he totaled 292 points.
San Diego State enters the Air Force game with a 7-5 record in Quad 1 & 2 games this season, including a 3-5 record in Quad 1 games. Its five 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, at Boise State (66-67) in front to its second biggest home crowd this year and at Colorado State (71-79) in front of its largest home crowd of the year.
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 125-28 record (81.7 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation trailing only Gonzaga (137-19, 87.8 percent) and Houston (135-25, 84.4 percent).
Against Utah State, senior forward Jay Pal became the fifth Aztec since at least the 1996-97 season to shoot perfect from the field (min. 5 FGM) with at least 15 points and two 3-pointers. Four of the five occasions have happened with Brian Dutcher as the head coach, including three current Aztecs (Lamont Butler vs. Georgetown on Nov. 25, 2021, Micah Parrish at Colorado State on Jan. 18, 2023 and Pal).
Senior forward Jaedon LeDee, against Utah State, led San Diego State in scoring (16 points) for the 15th time this season and in boards (9 rebounds) for the 17th time. He passed the 600-career rebound plateau with his second in the game.
Senior guard Lamont Butler became the ninth Aztec to reach 300 career assists in the Dutcher/Fisher era with four against Utah State.
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 168-52 (.764) 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.
No. 24 Men’s Hoops at Air Force Tuesday Night
