LAS VEGAS - After splitting its first two games at the inaugural Players Era Festival, a 71-53 win vs. No. 21/19 Creighton and a 78-68 loss to Oregon, the San Diego State Aztecs will face the No. 6/7 Houston Cougars in the third-place game on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs and Cougars are meeting for the fourth time, with San Diego State leading the series 2-1 heading into this game. The last time these two programs met was on March 15, 2018, a 67-65 triumph for Houston, the only previous neutral court matchup in the series. The first two meetings, one each on the team’s home floor, resulted in a pair of SDSU victories, 78-66 on January 29, 2002, in San Diego and 71-61 on December 21, 2002, in Houston.
Brian Dutcher has been on the San Diego State bench for all three meetings between these programs. He has two wins as an assistant on Steve Fisher’s bench, and a loss as the head coach.
The Aztecs enter today’s game coming off a 78-68 loss to Oregon on Wednesday. The loss gave the Ducks a 4-3 lead in the all-time series, but it was the first time the sides had played since the start of the 1997-98 season. Both the first and last games in the series have been played on a neutral court, San Diego State dropped both, 91-89 on Dec. 17, 1977, at the Dayton Invitational and Wednesday’s contest.
The SDSU defense against Creighton was what NCAA basketball is used to from the Aztecs, limiting the Bluejays to just 3 points in the final 8:15 of the game. The Aztecs held Creighton to just 1-of-16 from distance (6.3 percent) in the second half, and 6-of-31 for the game (19.4 percent). In addition, the Scarlet and Black held the Bluejays to 33.9 percent from the field (21-of-62) and has, under Brian Dutcher, held an opponent to under 35 percent shooting 127 times and has won 115 of those games.
In neutral site games, since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Aztecs have a 71-35 record which is the seventh best record in the nation in that timeframe.
Despite the roster turnover, San Diego State ranks No. 219 in DI experience at 1.57 years, the Aztecs are once again trending as an elite defensive team. Through the games of Nov. 28, according to KenPom, SDSU is rated 1st in block percentage (25.5), 10th in adjusted defensive efficiency (93.9), No. 24 in 2-point percentage defense (43.1) and 36th in effective field goal percentage defense (44.7).
San Diego State, which in 2023-24 reached the Mountain West Tournament championship game for the seventh time in head coach Brian Dutcher’s seven seasons, looks for its unprecedented 17th Mountain West men’s basketball title. Entering the 2024-25 season, San Diego State has won nine regular season and seven Mountain West tournament titles, the most of any program that has been a member of the league.
At the Mountain West Media Day in Las Vegas, by a vote of media members who regularly cover the league, Aztec senior guard Reese Waters and freshman forward Pharaoh Compton were named Preseason All-Mountain West and Preseason Freshman of the Year, respectively. Waters returns as the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and assists man, but is expected to be out until early January. Compton was the No. 80 rated player in the nation and is the first top 100 signee since Jer’Vaughn Johnson, ranked No. 26 nationally, signed in 2005.
With the Creighton win, 71-53, San Diego State is 94-7 in the Brian Dutcher era, when it limits its opponent to 60 or fewer points. Overall, the Aztecs have won 28 straight when holding the opposition to 60 points or less and are 101-8 in its last 109.
After San Diego State’s 71-53 win against Creighton at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the inaugural game of the Players Era Festival, the Aztec defense is in regular-season form. In three of its first four games, SDSU has held its opponent under 35.0 percent shooting. It limited the Bluejays to 33.9 percent from the field while Occidental and UC San Diego Tritons shot 29.3 percent and 32.8 percent, respectively. The Aztecs, since the start of the Fisher/Dutcher era, have held a non-conference opponent to 35.0 percent shooting or less from the field 92 times and in those games the Aztecs are 88-4. Before the first two games this season, the last time San Diego State held a non-conference opponent to shooting .350 or worse and lost was December 18, 2015, a span of 36 straight wins, 30 of which have come since Dutcher ascended to the top chair prior to the 2017-18 campaign.
In the Aztecs 100-49 win over Occidental on November 12, numerous highlights were achieved both as a program. It was the first time since the 2018-19 season SDSU scored 100 points in a game, not including overtime games. The team’s 37-point halftime lead was its biggest since a 46-point lead in the 2013-14 campaign. The Aztecs’ 18 three-pointers were one off the Viejas Arena and program record, set on Dec. 2, 2022, against Occidental.
Players who distinguished themselves against Occidental, include Magoon Gwath who became just the second Aztec to record at least 15 points, 4 blocks and 2 three-pointers in the same game since the 1999-00 season. BJ Davis joined teammate Miles Byrd as the only Aztecs since the 2019-20 season to record at least 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in the same game. Wayne McKinney III reached double figures in scoring just 5:36 into the game, accounting for 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range.
Brian Dutcher is in his eighth season as San Diego State’s head coach and his 26th season on the Aztec sidelines. In his seven-plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to five conference titles, seven Mountain West championship game appearances, a 180-60 overall record and 92-32 mark in league games, has been named the national coach of the year, twice the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year and led this team to back-to-back Sweet 16s including a run to the 2023 NCAA national championship game.