San Diego State garnered the respect of the voters in the Associated Press men’s basketball Top 25 before the season, landing at No. 17 in the first poll despite losing three starters and five of nine rotation pieces.
Not since.
The Aztecs still weren’t ranked after a 5-1 start that included a 25-point win against preseason No. 23 Saint Mary’s and two overtime wins against Pac-12 schools, and the lone loss against newly minted No. 19 BYU in altitude in a game they were technically underdogs. SDSU was second among others receiving votes in the latest poll released Monday morning, or de facto 27th.
Five teams dropped out of the Top 25, yet the Aztecs — No. 21 in the Kenpom.com metric — moved up only two spots.
Now they’ll have to impress voters against lesser competition, starting with Monday night’s ho-hum 71-51 victory against pesky Division II Point Loma Nazarene at Viejas Arena.
Next up, on Friday, is UC San Diego team that doesn’t have a win against anyone in the Kenpom top 200 and lost to No. 356 Idaho.
San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee dunks against Point Loma Nazarene’s Matur Dhalat, left, Zack Paulsen and Luke Smith.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The now 6-1 Aztecs won comfortably against the undermanned Sea Lions team missing its leading scorer as well as its top returnee — and an exhausted Sea Lions team that played games Friday and Saturday in Idaho and flew back to San Diego on Sunday. But it wasn’t exactly dominant, with the visitors within six points late in the first half and with 12 in the second.
Jaedon LeDee had a double-double by halftime and finished 15 points and 13 rebounds, which will lower his scoring average and knock him out of the top spot in Division I.
Reese Waters had 14 points and was 3 for 3 from the line, meaning he has now made all 30 free throws he’s attempted this season. Lamont Butler recovered from a shaky game Saturday at Cal (0 of 5) with 10 points on 4 of 9 shooting.
The game’s leading scorer was not an Aztec, however. Luke Smith, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward from Flower Mound, Texas, had 19 points after going 5 of 7 behind the 3-point arc. Zack Paulsen added 13 for the Sea Lions (4-3), who made nine 3s and had two fewer turnovers that their Division I hosts.
San Diego State’s Miles Heide battles for the ball with Point Loma Nazarene’s Zack Paulsen.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Sea Lions are already without St. Augustine High School alum Luke Haupt, their top returnee from last season’s 29-4 team who tore ligaments in knee in February and is still about a month away from playing.
Sophomore guard Jake Lifgren, their leading scorer at 20.2 points per game, was a late scratch with a nasty respiratory virus. Then starting big Wynton Brown had two fouls three minutes into the game.
But give the Sea Lions credit. They quickly trailed 26-11 but mounted a 15-6 run that cut the margin to a mere six with five minutes left in the first half.
Then LeDee went to work with six quick points — four on dunks — and Darrion Trammell scored for the third straight game at the halftime buzzer to make it 41-26.
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher argues a call and is assessed a technical foul during Monday’s game against PLNU.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The most impressive part of the offensive performance wasn’t the 15 of 29 shooting (51.7 percent) or 6 of 13 behind the arc but the 13 assists on 15 baskets (including 12 of the first 13). The national average is 50 percent of baskets are assisted, and the Aztecs entered the night 51st nationally at 58.4 percent.
The Sea Lions closed to 12 early in the second half, but the Aztecs were too big, too strong, too much and pushed the margin into the 20s.
Final rebounding: Aztecs 45, Sea Lions 31.
Notable
Next up: at UC San Diego on Friday night (7 p.m., ESPN+) … The Aztecs appeared on 24 AP ballots and as high as No. 17, but 38 ballots left them off completely (five fewer than last week) … The officiating crew included Bill Vinovich, an NFL referee who lives in Orange County. It was his second game at Viejas Arena this season … Jay Pal was in the first sub rotation with Trammell less than five minutes into the game, the earliest the Campbell transfer has appeared this season, playing the final five minutes … Freshman BJ Davis scored his first points of his Aztecs career … Redshirt sophomore Demarshay Johnson Jr. got his first action since dislocating his shoulder in the season opener … Also out for Point Loma wasAndrew Hommes, the younger brother of former Sea Lions star (and Div. II All-American) Dalton Hommes. The younger Hommes is possibly out for the season with a back issue.
