Fresh off a victory over a top-10 opponent, No. 24 San Diego State will jump into Mountain West Conference play Wednesday night with a visit to Fresno State.
The Aztecs’ 73-70 overtime victory over then-No. 6 Houston on Saturday in Las Vegas was their first over a top-10 team since ousting No. 1 Alabama from the 2023 NCAA Tournament while advancing to the Elite Eight.
It also was San Diego State’s third victory over a top-10 team under coach Brian Dutcher, who took over the program in the 2017-18 season.
Miles Byrd scored 18 points and Jared Coleman-Jones added 16 as the Aztecs (4-2) shot 48.1 percent from the floor in the second half after shooting 29.6 percent before halftime. They held the Cougars to five points in overtime to earn a spot in this week’s poll.
San Diego State is 2-2 over a stretch of games in which it lost to then-No. 3 Gonzaga, beat then-No. 21 Creighton, and lost to Oregon before upending Houston.
“When we scheduled this season, I knew I had a good team, but could we be good in November?” Dutcher said. “I’m proud of these guys. It was a daunting four-game stretch with the Zags, Creighton, Oregon and Houston. But we played good basketball, and we did what we had to do.”
Aztecs freshman Pharaoh Compton scored a career-best 13 points and held his own on the defensive end against the Cougars.
“Definitely just trusting in my coach and knowing that he’s going to put me in the right position,” said Compton, who made his homecoming as a Las Vegas product and the top-ranked recruit out of Nevada.
BJ Davis leads San Diego State with an average of 13.8 points per game, while Nick Boyd scores 13.0 and Byrd is at 12.8. The Aztecs are second in the conference with a defense that allows 64.7 points per game, just behind Utah State’s 64.1 mark.
Fresno State (3-4) is the Mountain West’s worst defensive team through the early part of the season, allowing opponents to score 77.7 points per game.
The Bulldogs enter off an 86-81 double-overtime loss to Cal Baptist last Wednesday in the Acrisure Invitational at Palm Desert, Calif. They lost both games of the event, also falling 84-73 to Washington State.
Amar Augillard scored 26 points against Cap Baptist to go with a season-best eight rebounds.
The heartbreaking defeat happened after the Lancers drilled a 3-pointer from halfcourt to tie the game at the end of regulation. The Bulldogs opened the game by missing their first 11 attempts from 3-point range.
“When you lose an overtime game, you always go back and (say), ‘What if,'” Fresno State coach Vance Walberg said afterward on the Bulldogs’ radio broadcast. “There are a lot of what-ifs, but the effort and the heart, I’m really proud of the guys.”
San Diego State crushed Fresno State in both matchups last season, winning 74-47 at home on Jan. 3 and 73-41 at Fresno on Feb. 24.
