LAS VEGAS - Following its 79-54 drubbing of Saint Mary's in its semifinal game of the 2023 Continental Tire Main Event, San Diego State is prepped for the championship game on Sunday against the University of Washington.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Huskies are meeting for the sixth time, with UW owning a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series. The teams have never met on a neutral floor, and in its three wins, the Huskies have won twice on its home floor and once in San Diego, while the Aztecs two wins have come on its home floor.
San Diego State used a pair of 10-plus-to-zero point runs in the second half to pull away from Saint Mary's on Friday night enroute to a 25-point throttling, 79-54. It was the second time San Diego State has put a 25-point hammering in the last four years (also: a 74-49 at Cal Poly on Dec. 22, 2020). The Aztecs are the only program to dispose of the Gaels by more than 20 points in a regular-season neutral site game since at least the 1996-97 campaign.
Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Aztecs are among the elite at winning on neutral floors. In a minimum of 95 neutral site games since the beginning of the 2009-10 campaign, SDSU has more than doubled its win total compared to its losses (65-32; 67.0 percent). Gonzaga is the only other team in the top-10 who is not a member of a Power 6 basketball conference. (see graphic at bottom of the page).
San Diego State is appearing in its fourth MTE in Las Vegas, all coming since the start of the 2010-11 season. In its "Sin City" MTEs, the Aztecs have an overall record of 6-1, were the champions of 2010 Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic (2-0) and 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational (2-0), finished runner-up (1-1) in the 2015 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, and plays for its third title in four attempts in its game against Washington.
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.
For the fifth time since the start of the 2010-11 season, San Diego State opened the season ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. The Aztecs No. 17 ranking in the initial poll is the second highest in program history, trailing only the 2014-15 preseason poll in which it was No. 16. Since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, SDSU has appeared in the AP poll for 102 weeks, more than any program in the state of California, ahead of UCLA (86 weeks), Saint Mary's (53 weeks), Southern California (37 weeks) and California (11 weeks).
San Diego State owns a 111-24 record (82.2 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That is the third best record in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (123-13, 90.4 percent) and Houston (121-22, 84.6 percent). The 10 winningest programs since 2019-20 are listed in the box below.
San Diego State shot a season-best 51.8 percent from the floor against Saint Mary's. Taking into account that the Gaels shot just 42.9 percent from the charity stripe on 14 attempts, it marked just the sixth time in the Dutcher/Fisher era that the Aztecs finished a game with a better field goal percentage than its opponents free throw percentage.
Senior Jaedon LeDee led the Aztecs' attack against Saint Mary's with his fourth 20-point effort (25 points) in as many games this season. In addition, the Houston, Texas native led the Scarlet and Black with eight rebounds. He is the first Aztec since at least the start of the Dutcher/Fisher era to open a season with four straight 20-plus point efforts. LeDee is the second player in the last 10 years to open a season with four 20+ point games while scoring on at least 55.0 percent shooting. The other was Dayton's Obi Toppin in 2019-20 who went on to win the Wooden Award. LeDee, through four games, has drawn 36 fouls (9.0 /game) which he has used to go to the charity stripe 35 times and where he has made 27 attempts (77.1 percent).
Junior guard Reese Waters, a transfer from Southern California, reached double figure scoring, with 19 points against Saint Mary's, for the fourth game in a row. He shot .77.8 from the floor (7-of-9) and from the bonus distance (3-of-4).
Senior guard Micah Parrish added 11 points with four assists and five rebounds. Elijah Saunders swatted a career-high four shots, the most by an Aztec since Nathan Mensah rejected five against Alabama in the Sweet 16 at the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
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 154-48 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 Face Washington in Las Vegas Tourney Final
