SAN DIEGO - San Diego State complete its regular season slate of games on Friday evening when it hosts UNLV for the final time at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena Mountain West opponents. The game is set to tip at 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Rebels are meeting for the 36th time overall, with the Aztecs leading the series 45-40, the 36th time in San Diego, SDSU leads 21-14, and 27th time at Steve Fisher Court where SDSU is 18-8.
San Diego State hosts UNLV in a tie for second place in the Mountain West with New Mexico, and with a win, in combination with a New Mexico victory at Utah State on Saturday, the Aztecs will finish in a three-way tie for the Mountain West’s regular season title. (see the box on the right).
San Diego State has earned a bye into the quarterfinal round of the 2026 Mountain West Tournament. It is the ninth straight year under Brian Dutcher and the 26th time in the 27 years of the event that SDSU has avoided playing a first-round game. Only the 2016-17 Aztecs have not started the event in the quarterfinals.
SDSU, under Brian Dutcher, enters its game against UNLV 55-13 in contests immediately following a loss. A Brian Dutcher team has lost three straight games only once (in January 2018). The only team in the country with a longer streak without losing three straight games is Gonzaga (last happened in January 2011).
In a ceremony preceding the game, San Diego State will honor the careers of five seniors Miles Byrd, Reese Dixon-Waters, Sean Newman Jr., Jeremiah Oden and Cam Lawin.
San Diego State has won an unprecedented 16 Mountain West titles: nine regular season and seven tournament crowns.
Miles Byrd is the only Aztec, since at least the 1996-97 season, to have scored at least 834 points, grabbed at least 351 boards, dished out at least 199 assists, and blocked at least 85 shots.
Taj DeGourville leads San Diego State in assists (85) and assists per game (2.9)...off the bench. He ranks No. 2 in the Mountain West in total assists and assists per game among players who have started no more than five games this season.
The Aztecs are filling it up on the offensive end of the floor. Through 29 games, they’re averaging 79.1 points per game. SDSU’s best scoring team at the Division I level was its 1970-71 squad, its first as a Division I program, which averaged 86.9 points per game; one of five years it has averaged 80-plus points. The program’s best scoring year in the Mountain West era, 77.1 points per game, was the 2017-18 squad, Brian Dutcher’s first year leading the program.
In its 19 Mountain West games, San Diego State has held conference opponents to an average of 69.5 points on 39.2 percent shooting from the field, including 32.7 percent from beyond the arc, with 148 steals (7.8/g), 82 blocks (4.3/g) and forced 280 turnovers (14.7/g).
San Diego State owns the best Mountain West-best conference road record, 87-60, since the start of the 2009-10 season. Among the “original six” still in the league since its inception, SDSU’s 111-110 conference road mark is the only winning record in the league. The Aztecs will leave the Mountain West as the only program with a winning road record in its 27 years in the conference.
According to Kenpom, San Diego State’s defense ranks No. 1 in defensive efficiency, turnover percentage, two-point field goal percentage & block percentage and No. 2 in effective field goal percentage and No. 3 in steal percentage among Mountain West schools.
Nationally, Kenpom has the Aztecs defense rated in the top 25 in non-steal turnover percentage (No. 3), block percentage (No. 11), turnover percentage (No. 15), and adjusted defensive efficiency (No. 20).
SDSU made 17-of-18 free throw attempts against Nevada, for its highest free-throw percentage (.944) of the season and highest mark with at least 18 attempts since going 22-of-23 (.957) at Air Force on Jan. 21, 2023.
In 11 of the last 19 games, San Diego State shot at least 50 percent in the first half and overall in 14 of this season’s 29 first halves. In addition, in 28-of-58 halves this season SDSU has shot at least 50 percent.
San Diego State owns a 174-54 record (76.3 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, which is the SIXTH BEST RECORD in the nation. SDSU trails Gonzaga at 202-33 (86.0 percent), Houston at 208-37 (84.9 percent), Duke at 187-48 (79.6 percent) and Saint Mary’s 175-52 (77.1 percent) and Arizona 178-55 (76.4 percent) and ahead of the likes of Connecticut 176-55 (76.2 percent) and Kansas 176-59 (.749).
San Diego State has started its league season with at least 13 victories in Mountain West games for the fifth time in the Brian Dutcher era. Also: 2019-20 (17), 2020-21 (14), 2021-22 (13) and 2022-23 (14) and it’s the 11th time since the 2005-06 season ... also: 2005-06 (13)., 2010-11 (14), 2013-14 (16), 2014-15 (14) & 2015-16 (16).
SDSU ranks No. 3 in the nation with 35.8 bench points per game and has totaled at least 40 bench points 10 times in 29 games, which includes an astounding 69 bench points versus Whittier College (12-22-25), and in 19 of its 29 games, SDSU has totaled 30+ bench points.
Under Brian Dutcher, the Aztecs have held opponents to 60 points or less 126 times and have won 119 of those games (119-7, 94.4 percent). Overall, Dutcher’s Aztecs have held opponents to 60 or fewer points in 42.7 percent (126-of-295) of the games he has coached.
Miles Byrd is the only player in the nation this season, the third since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and the only Aztec since at least the start of the 1996-97 season, who has had at least 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 4 steals and has scored no more than 6 points in a single game (at GCU, 1-21-26).
Magoon Gwath, who returned to play against Nevada (2/14) after missing five games, became the first Aztec since at least the 1996-97 season with at least three 3-pointers and 5 blocks in the same game.
At UNLV, Miles Byrd became the only player in the nation, since at least the 1996-97 season, with a game in which he scored at least 23 points, was perfect from beyond the arc on a minimum of five attempts, perfect from the line on a minimum of four attempts and had at least five assists and four steals.
San Diego State, in its last 23 games, has limited those opponents to 68.9 points per game, which includes a triple overtime contest against Boise State, versus going 3-3 and allowing 79.2 points in its first six games.
Since the start of the 2005-06 campaign, San Diego State owns the SIXTH BEST RECORD in the nation, 522-190 (.733), the FIFTH BEST HOME MARK 291-40 (.879), plus is ELEVENTH IN ROAD CONTESTS 143-101 (.586).
Brian Dutcher is the most successful coach in the history of Mountain West games...and it’s not even close. Dutcher has a winning percentage of 73.0 percent (119-44) which is 7.5 percentage points better than the next best win percentage, which belongs to Lon Kruger (2002-11) who won 65.5 percent (72-38) of his league games.
SDSU has shot 50-plus percent in nine, all victories, of its last 19 games, and is 77-2 in its last 79 games when it shoots at least 50 percent from the field.
The Aztecs bench has nearly doubled its opponents bench scoring output, outscoring its opponent’s reserves by 17.0 points per game. SDSU’s bench has scored 1,038 points through 29 games, an average of 35.8 per game, compared to its opposition’s 546 points, an average of 18.8.
Brian Dutcher is the only San Diego State head men’s basketball coach to accumulate at least 21 wins in each of his first eight seasons and is averaging 24.8 wins per season coming into the 2025-26 campaign.
Brian Dutcher reached the 200-win plateau with a 73-57 victory against Idaho State (11-9-25), becoming the third Aztec head coach with at least 200 wins. The other two are Aztec Hall of Fame inductees George Ziegenfuss (1949-69) with 316 wins and Steve Fisher (2000-17) with a program record 386.