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SDSU will play seven of its 12 non-conference games in Viejas Arena
Source: goaztecs.com
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
September 15, 2022 (San Diego) - Having posted a 25-4 record in non-conference contests since the start of the 2019-20 season, San Diego State men’s basketball program revealed its 2022-23 out-of-conference slate on Tuesday. It has a total of 12 regular-season games and one exhibition and features five opponents which played in the postseason last year, including three that competed in the NCAA tournament, and could include as many as two more NCAA tournament teams.
The 102nd season of Aztecs hoops opens in Viejas Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 1 with an exhibition against San Diego Christian College. It will be the first appearance on Steve Fisher Court since the 2019-20 season for the Hawks. SDCC has played San Diego State nine times, since its first meeting in the 2010-11 season, and has yet to earn a win.
The regular-season and home opener is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7, against Cal State Fullerton. The programs have met 32 times since the series commenced in the 1963-64 season. In games played on the Aztecs home floor, SDSU is 13-4. San Diego State won the first 10 matchups, regardless of location, and since Viejas opened is 3-1 against the Titans, having taken the last three, including a 66-56-win last year. Cal State Fullerton posted a 21-11 record last year, including an 11-4 mark in Big West action. They won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament.
Four nights later, on Friday, Nov. 11, Brigham Young comes to town for the renewal of one of the program’s most heated rivalries. It is the first of a two-game, home-and-home series, with the Aztecs returning the game next year in Provo, Utah. In the previous 75 matchups the Cougars have come out on the winning end 50 times, including defeating SDSU in nine of the 16 games played in Viejas Arena. The last time Brigham Young played on Steve Fisher Court, on Dec. 18, 2020, they came away with a 72-62 win over the then No. 18-ranked Aztecs. The Cougars posted a 24-11 record last season and reached the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
San Diego State then heads out on the road for the first of four games away from America’s Finest City.
The first is at Stanford on Tuesday, Nov. 15. It will be the first meeting in nearly 25 years between the programs; with the Cardinal holding a 4-0 lead in the series. In the previous two games played at Stanford, SDSU came out on the short end of a pair of decisions: 52-29 on Jan. 6, 1941, and 97-50 on Feb. 24, 1997. This is the first of a two-game series, which will conclude in Viejas Arena next year.
San Diego State then travels to Maui for three games in the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational starting on Monday, Nov. 21 against Ohio State. The Aztecs have won each of the last two meetings and is 2-1 all-time against the Buckeyes. In the most recent matchup, SDSU defeated Ohio State 83-61 in the quarterfinal of the 2003 Maui Invitational. In 2021-22, the Buckeyes posted a 20-12 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Aztec senior forward Jaedon LeDee was a member of the Ohio State program during the 2018-19 season, his freshman year, and will face his former school for the first time.
Depending on the outcome of the Ohio State game, the Aztecs will play either Arizona or Cincinnati in its second game, on Tuesday, Nov. 22. Arizona has won 24 of the 31 games played against SDSU. Three of the last four meetings have been at neutral sites and in three of those games both teams were nationally ranked, including the last matchup, where the Wildcats, ranked No. 3, defeated No. 15 San Diego State, 61-59 in the championship game of the 2014 Maui Invitational. Arizona was 33-4 in 2021-22, won the Pac-12 tournament and reached the Sweet-16 of the NCAA tournament before bowing out to Houston.
SDSU and Cincinnati have only met once before, on Dec. 17, 2014. The Bearcats won the game in overtime, 71-62, at the Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. Last season, the Bearcats posted an 18-15 mark and missed the postseason. The Aztecs’ final game at the Lahaina Civic Center, on Nov. 23, will be against one of four teams: Texas Tech, Creighton, Louisville, or Arkansas. Texas Tech, Creighton and Arkansas all competed in last year’s NCAA tournament.
Following the Maui Invitational, San Diego State plays five of its final six non-conference games in Viejas Arena.
The run begins on Monday, Nov. 29 against the UC Irvine Anteaters. The Aztecs hold an 11-7 lead in the all-time series, including 7-3 on SDSU’s home floor. However, the programs have met just once since the 1997-98 season. That matchup came on Nov. 27, 2020, in Viejas Arena and resulted in a 77-58 win for San Diego State. In 2021-22, the Anteaters went 15-10 and were knocked out of the Big West tournament in the quarterfinal round.
Friday, Dec. 2, and for the first time in nearly 12 years, San Diego State and Occidental College will play in Viejas. Overall, it will be the 34th meeting between the pair. The inaugural game of the series was on Jan. 21, 1927, and the teams last played on Dec. 31, 2010, with SDSU holding a 25-8 lead in the series.
The Aztecs host Troy on Monday, Dec. 5. It will be just the second time the two will have met, following an 84-93 loss by San Diego State in Viejas on Nov. 30, 2003. The Trojans were 20-12 last year, lost in the semifinal of the Sun Belt Conference tournament and were then eliminated in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
The last road trip prior to the start of the league schedule comes on Saturday, Dec. 10, and for the second consecutive year features the Aztecs facing Saint Mary’s College in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. The game will be played in the same venue as last year, the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., the home of the Phoenix Suns. It also marks the third straight year the programs have met on a neutral court. In last year’s Jerry Colangelo Classic, SDSU earned a 63-53 victory, and that win tipped the all-time series to the Aztecs by a 7-6 margin. The Gaels went 26-8 in 2021-22, fell to Gonzaga in the championship game of the WCC tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The final two non-conference games are at home and against Kennesaw State, on Monday, Dec. 12, and UC San Diego on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
The meeting against ASUN Conference member Kennesaw State will be the first for the Aztecs. SDSU has a 2-1 record against teams from the ASUN, which includes a win in its only other home contest against a member of the conference. That game was played on Dec. 18, 1992, in Peterson Gym with San Diego State walking away with a 90-79 win over Northern Florida.
Before opening the Mountain West slate, SDSU plays the first of a three-game series against the Tritons. San Diego State and UC San Diego will play in Viejas this year and next and at UCSD’s LionTree Arena in the 2024-25 campaign. The Aztecs have played their neighbors from La Jolla 12 times without a loss; with each of those dozen victories coming on SDSU’s home floor. Last year, its first as a Division I program, the Tritons fell to San Diego State, 78-57 in Viejas. UC San Diego went 13-16 last year and 7-11 as a member of the Big West.
San Diego State returns fifth-year seniors Nathan Mensah, Adam Seiko, Aguek Arop, and Matt Bradley in 2022-23, and four-fifths of its starting line up from a team that went 23-9 last year. In 2021-22, San Diego State appeared in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament for the fifth consecutive year and competed in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
In addition to the aforementioned players, SDSU returns starters Lamont Butler and Keshad Johnson as well as newcomers Jaedon LeDee, who sat out the 2021-22 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Darrion Trammell, a transfer from Seattle U., Micah Parrish, a transfer from Oakland, and freshmen Miles Byrd and Elijah Saunders.
Stay tuned for any coverage of Aztecs men's basketball by ECM Sports.
2022-23 San Diego State Men's Basketball
Non-Conference Schedule
Nov. 1 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN (Exhibition)
Nov. 7 CAL STATE FULLERTON
Nov. 11 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Nov. 15 at Stanford
Nov. 21 #vs. Ohio State
Nov. 22 #vs. Arizona/Cincinnati
Nov. 23 #vs. TBD
Nov. 29 UC IRVINE
Dec. 2 OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Dec. 5 TROY
Dec. 10 ^vs. Saint Mary's College
Dec. 12 KENNESAW STATE
Dec. 20 UC SAN DIEGO
# - Maui Jim Maui Invitational (Lahaina, Maui)
^ - Footprint Center (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Home games in all CAPS
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