SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's men's basketball team is one of four that will compete in the 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy, which will be contested on Nov. 25 and 26 at the Anaheim Convention Center, it was announced today.
In addition to the Aztecs, the USC Trojans, Georgetown Hoyas and Saint Joseph's Hawks fill out the field in the 14th iteration of the event. The four-team, two-day tournament will be played under a new format compared to past Paycom Wooden Legacy events where the event featured an eight-team, three-day bracket competition.
Two of this year's four teams, USC and SDSU, are past winners of the Paycom Wooden Legacy. The Trojans won the inaugural event in 2007, and San Diego State was the champion in 2013.
San Diego State has a 5-1 record in two appearances in the Wooden Legacy since the event changed from the Wooden Classic to the Wooden Legacy in 2013. SDSU will compete in the event for the third time since it went to its current tournament format in 2013 and sixth time overall.
In 2013, the Aztecs won the event with wins over the College of Charleston and No. 20 Creighton, and then defeated No. 25 Marquette 67-59 to earn the championship. In 2017, San Diego State won games against Sacramento State and Georgia before falling to Washington State 93-86 in the title game.
Three of the four teams in the event, San Diego State, USC and Georgetown, competed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Aztecs won the program's conference-record 14th Mountain West Championship (regular season and tournament) and advanced to Indianapolis as a 6-seed. USC had a 25-8 record and reached the Elite Eight in last year's NCAA Tournament and Georgetown swept through the 2021 Big East Tournament to earn an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
San Diego State and USC have met 13 times with the Trojans owning a 10-3 record in the all-time series. The programs have not faced off since the 2012-13 season, but the Aztecs have come away the victor in each of the last two meetings, 66-60 in 2012 in Los Angeles and 56-54 in Viejas Arena in 2011.
SDSU has played Georgetown once, a 71-53 victory by the Hoyas in the 1981-82 season in Washington D.C., and if Saint Joseph's and San Diego State play it will be the first time the programs will have met.
This past season, the Aztecs completed the campaign with a 23-5 record and finished with a No. 26 national ranking.
San Diego State is expected to return starters Nathan Mensah and Trey Pulliam, as well as significant contributors Lamont Butler, Keshad Johnson, Adam Seiko, and Joshua Tomaic. Transfers Jaedon LeDee, Tahirou Diabate, and Matt Bradley, along with incoming freshman Demarshay Johnson Jr., are new faces for the Aztecs in 2021-22.
Matchups will be revealed and tickets for the 2021 Paycom Wooden Legacy will go on sale this summer and will be available at https://espnevents.com/wooden-legacy/.
-SDSU-