SDSU Yearbook: MW Championship Highlights Unforgettable Year for Men's Basketball
The Aztecs fought their way to the No. 4 national ranking and finished the year with 30 wins.
San Diego State University takes a look back to celebrate all the accomplishments of the past year in an SDSU NewsCenter series titled “SDSU Yearbook.” SDSU is an educational leader and a growing research powerhouse with top athletics programs and exceptional, diverse students who lead.
Join us and experience SDSU. Submit your Intent to Enroll by May 1 through your SDSU WebPortal.
As the men’s basketball team continued one of the most successful seasons in San Diego State University athletics, it entered its showdown against the University of New Mexico on a 24-game winning streak and an opportunity to clinch the Mountain West Conference regular-season championship and remain the only undefeated team in NCAA Division I basketball.
Junior forward Matt Mitchell had 22 points and 12 rebounds as the No. 4 Aztecs defeated New Mexico 82-59 on Tuesday, February 11, in front of a sellout crowd at Viejas Arena.
“I couldn't be more proud of a team,” head coach Brian Dutcher said when the team clinched the regular-season championship with four games yet to play. “The hardest thing in basketball, obviously other than winning the final four is winning a regular season conference title because you have to do it over the whole season.”
The win clinched a MW-record 12 regular-season and tournament championships for the Aztecs. They also won outright regular-season titles in 2006, 2014 and 2016. The shared regular-season titles in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Unranked at the beginning of the season, the Aztecs were the only remaining undefeated men’s team in NCAA Division I for more than a month, as a hot-selling t-shirt featuring the undefeated map of the country.
SDSU finished the year ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, following five straight weeks at No. 4, matching the highest ranking in program history.
Alas, memories of the 26-game winning streak in 2019-20—a school record—and a Mountain West Conference regular-season championship will have to endure and those who packed the student section of Viejas Arena—they call them “The Show”—still have unforgettable impressions of a 30-2 year that brought a community together.
Dutcher was USA Today’s national coach of the year, and a finalist for the 2020 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Award among other honors.
Guard Malachi Flynn was recognized as an NCAA Consensus All-American and Associated Press second team All-American honors. His three-point buzzer-beater in a Dec. 8 home game against San José State was a delirious high point, with just 10 games under the team’s belts at the time.
Champions The Aztecs have won a MW-record 12 regular-season and tournament championships. (All photos courtesy of GoAztecs.com)
