By Anna Ramirez
3 18 2025
SDSU GAME NOTES
https://goheels.com/documents/2025/3/17/36opp-SD_State.pdf
San Diego State and North Carolina, each 11-seeds, will play in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday night at UD Arena. The tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and the game will be broadcast on TruTV.
SAN DIEGO – San Diego State, the 11-seed in the South Region, opens play in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with a First Four matchup against 11-seed North Carolina on Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. ET at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
OFF THE BOUNCE
The Aztecs are making their 17th appearance in the Division I event, owning a 13-16 record. Head coach Brian Dutcher has been on the Aztec sidelines for 26 of the program’s 29 all-time tournament games and all 13 of the program’s victories.
This is the sixth NCAA appearance for Dutcher, the two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, in his eight seasons as head coach. The Aztecs had a likely appearance in the 2019-20 taken away when San Diego State was 30-2, but the event was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
This is the program’s 12th tournament appearance in the last 15 seasons that a champion was crowned. That total does not include the 2019-20 season when SDSU was 30-2 and ranked sixth in the AP poll when the season ended prior to the tournament.
San Diego State will compete in the South Region for the fourth time in program history. Tuesday will be the program’s first appearance in the First Four regardless of region. In first and second round games, SDSU has a 4-2 record in the South Region, a 4-4 mark in the West Region, and are 0-5 in the Midwest Region for an overall record in the first weekend of 8-11.
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.
San Diego State owns a 155-43 record (78.3 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That’s the THIRD BEST record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga’s 173-29 (85.6 percent), and Houston’s 178-31 (85.2 percent), and ahead of Duke’s 155-45 (77.5 percent) and Kansas’ 155-49 (76.0 percent) records.
San Diego State owns the SIXTH BEST record in the nation since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, 411-136 (.751), and is 186-107 (.635) road and neutral site contests in that time frame which is the FIFTH BEST in the nation.
San Diego State and North Carolina are meeting for the third time with the Tar Heels owning both victories in the series. The first meeting came on Dec. 29, 1988, in San Diego. UNC defeated the Scarlet and Black 103-92. In the second matchup, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina cruised to a 99-63 victory.
San Diego State is 15-23 all-time against the current membership of the Atlantic Coast Conference. It won its last game against a league member, 71-50 against California at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., in the San Jose Tip-Off on December 21, 2024.
San Diego State, which reached the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA Tournament, has lost the point production of its top seven scorers from a year ago. Six are no longer with the organization and one, Reese Waters, has not played this season due to injury. San Diego State scored 2,742 points a year ago, but just 232 of those points (8.5 percent) have suited up for the Aztecs this year. SDSU is 21-9 overall, was 14-6 in the Mountain West, finished in fourth place in the league standings, and has multiple wins over top 25 teams and those who have received bids to the NCAA tournament, including No. 4 Houston, Creighton, New Mexico, Colorado State & UC San Diego.
With its win over No. 2 Houston in the Players Era Festival, San Diego State improved to 16-11 (.593) under Brian Dutcher against AP Top-25 teams. The Aztecs were 29-98 (.228) against AP Top-25 teams prior to Dutcher taking over as head coach in 2017-18. SDSU’s .593 winning percentage against AP Top-25 teams since the 2017-18 season is the second highest in the country (min. 20 games). The top 5 consists of No. 1 Duke (.596), No. 3 Kansas (.587), No. 4 Gonzaga (.574), and No. 5 Arizona (.568).
San Diego State is the No. 1 ranked team in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.378) and one of two teams in the nation which is limiting opponents to no more than a combined 37.8 percent overall from the floor and 30.2 percent from long distance. (also: Tennessee)
With defense as its calling card, San Diego State has been a menace to opposing offenses. Since the start of the Fisher/Dutcher era, the 1999-00 season, SDSU has held its opponent to 40.0 percent or less from the field 389 times in 860 games (45.2 percent), recording 340 wins in those 389 games (87.4 percent). Under Brian Dutcher, since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Scarlet and Black has played 265 games and has limited the opponent to 40.0 percent shooting or less 139 times (139-of-265; 52.5 percent) and won 125 of those games (125-14; 89.9 percent).
San Diego State is 10-0 this season when it holds its opponent to 60 or fewer points. In the Brian Dutcher era, his Aztecs have held their opponent to 60 points or less 117 times and have won 110 of those games (110-7, 94.0 percent). Overall, Dutcher’s Aztecs have held their opponent to 60 or fewer points in 44.2 percent (117-of-265) of the games he has coached.
San Diego State, one of the most dominant defensive teams in the nation, ranked in the top 20 in Kenpom’s Adjusted Defensive Efficiency in 10 of the last 15 years, in the top 10 in seven of the last 15 campaigns, and is currently No. 13 in that ranking. Additionally, the Aztecs are No. 1 in block percentage, No. 6 in effective field goal percentage defense, No. 8 in 2-point percentage defense, and No. 19 3-point percentage defense according to Kenpom.
Head men’s basketball coach Brian Dutcher reached a Mountain West coaching milestone with the team’s 63-61 win over Wyoming on February 1. Dutcher became just the fourth coach in league history to record 100 conference wins (currently 106 victories). He joined Aztecs Hall of Famer Steve Fisher (No. 1 with 168 wins), Leon Rice (No. 2 with 158 wins), and Steve Alford (No. 3 with 129 wins) as the only coaches in Mountain West history to record triple digit league victories. Dutcher reached the milestone in 135 games, faster than any of the previous three. Alford did it in 151 games, Rice in 173 and Fisher in 190.
This year San Diego State has had second half scoring runs of 20-0, 18-0 & 17-0 all which contributed to comeback wins. Overall, SDSU has had 19 scoring runs of at least 10-0 this season and is 13-1 in contests in which it strung together at least a run of 10-0. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Aztecs are 76-9 in games in which they score at least 10 straight points.
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, when the current slate of teams in the Mountain West came together, San Diego State’s 161-55 (.745) record is the best in the Mountain West in conference games. Boise State ranks second with a 146-74 (.664) mark.
The Aztecs have held 14 of their 29 Division I opponents to less than 40 percent shooting, 10 games of less than 35.0 percent and three under 30.0 percent. SDSU limited the California Bears to just 25.5 percent shooting on Dec. 21, the third lowest opponent field goal percentage shooting night in the Brian Dutcher era.
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 198-67 overall record and 106-38 mark in league games, both league leading in that time frame, 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.
COURTESY SAN DIEGO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
