Game 25: No. 21/20 San Diego State (20-5, 11-2 MW) at Fresno State (9-15, 5-8 MW)
Feb. 15, 2023 • 8 p.m. PT • Fresno, Calif. • Save Mart Center
TV/ONLINE: CBS Sports Network (Jordan Kent & Tim Doyle)
RADIO: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler & Marc Q. Jones)
SERIES HISTORY: San Diego State leads 69-53 (overall) • Fresno State leads 31-24 (in Fresno, Calif.)
LAST MEETING: San Diego State 53, Fresno State 46 (3/10/22 • Las Vegas)
UP NEXT: vs. Colorado State (Feb. 18); at Air Force (Feb. 21)
THE BREAKDOWN
Fresno State entered the 2022-23 season bringing back eight returners, which includes four seniors in Jemarl Baker, Jordan Campbell, Anthony Holland and Isaiah Hill along with juniors Destin Whitaker, Donavan Yap and Leo Colimerio and sophomore Steven Vasquez.
Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson is in his fifth season back home in the Central Valley.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 23-win campaign in 2021-22 and a postseason title after winning The Basketball Classic, presented by ERACISM, in April - two 23-win seasons (2018-19 and 2021-22).
Seven new players have joined the program: guards Jordan Brinson (Salt Lake CC), Alexander Gorton (Palm Beach Atlantic), Joseph Hunter (San Joaquin Memorial HS) and Jeff Sims (Santa Rosa Academy) along with forward Isaih Moore (Southern Miss) and centers Chuks Isitua (IUPUI) and Eduardo Andre (Nebraska).
Fresno State guard Jemarl Baker leads the Bulldogs in scoring with an average of 12.0 points per game.
OPENING TIP
Fresno State hosts the No. 21/20 San Diego State Aztecs on Wednesday at 8 p.m. PT at the Save Mart Center.
The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network (television) and the Bulldog Sports Network (radio).
Fresno State is second in the MW in scoring defense (65.38 points allowed per game) for the 2022-23 season.
Fresno State enters the week tied for seventh with UNLV in the MW standings (FS: head-to-head tiebreaker).
Fresno State will play three of its next four games at home at the Save Mart Center.
This will be Fresno State's 100th game all-time against an Associated Press Top 25 opponent (20-79 overall).
This will be the 12th game played against an AP Top 25 opponent at the Save Mart Center (1-10 overall).
Hutson is 31-12 as a Division I head or assistant coach when coaching against one of his former teams.
SEASON NOTABLES
Fresno State's first six Division I nonconference opponents were all Top 125 KenPom teams.
Fresno State earned its first win over an Associated Press Top 25 opponent since 2002 when the Bulldogs handed then-No. 21/22 New Mexico 71-67 its first loss of the season on Jan. 3 at the Save Mart Center.
Fresno State is now 9-1 against UNM in Hutson's five seasons coaching the Bulldogs.
Fresno State completed its first regular season sweep of UNLV since 2018 by securing two victories over the Runnin' Rebels in a 14-day span. Fresno State is now 5-4 against UNLV in Hutson's five seasons.
Fresno State enters having made 74.6 percent of its free throws (247-331), which currently would eclipse the school record for single-season free throw percentage (74.2 percent, 484-652, 1991-92).
Through games played on Feb. 13, 10 of 11 Mountain West programs were rated in the Top 100 nationally in KenPom's strength of schedule. SDSU leads the MW at 26th nationally, while Fresno State is fifth (62nd).
Through the first 24 games of the season, Fresno State has had 11 of its 13 scholarship players miss at least one game for a non-coaches decision and have combined to miss 78 games throughout the 2022-23 season.
Fresno State leads Northern and Central California in attendance during the 2022-23 season (4,647/game).
SERIES HISTORY: FRESNO STATE VS. SAN DIEGO STATE
Fresno State trails its all-time series with SDSU, 53-69 (overall), but owns a 31-24 home record versus SDSU.
After sweeping SDSU in his Hutson's first season with the Bulldogs, Fresno State has lost its last seven games played against the Aztecs, including four home games played at the Save Mart Center.