San Diego State looks to continue strong play, faces Stanford

Notching two victories after dropping out of the AP Top 25, San Diego State looks to continue its momentum hosting Stanford on Thursday night.

The Aztecs (9-2) are coming off victories over UC Irvine and Saint Katherine at home after losing at Grand Canyon on Dec. 5, a day after they cracked the rankings at No. 25.

Four players scored double figures in Tuesday’s 91-57 win over Saint Katherine, led by Jaedon LeDee’s 17 points.

The Aztecs led by 30 points at halftime, the 13th time they have accomplished the feat since 1996-97.

“It was a good game for us as a tune-up game coming out of finals,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “Stanford has lost some close games. They played a really competitive schedule, Arkansas and Michigan, just to name a couple.

“They’re veterans. They’re bigger than us at almost every position, and so that size and strength are going to play a factor in the game. We have to make sure that we do a good job boxing out and rebounding, and then we have to contest threes.”

The Cardinal (5-4) lost to then-No. 20 Arkansas 77-74 in two overtimes on Nov. 22 and to Michigan 83-78 a day later in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Stanford most recently defeated Idaho 82-64 on Sunday behind freshman forward Andrej Stojakovic’s 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.

Michael Jones, in his second season with the Cardinal after three seasons at Davidson, scored 14.

The Cardinal have won consecutive games after losing three straight (they concluded the Battle 4 Atlantis with a loss to Northern Iowa).

Stanford’s game with Idaho was also after the Cardinal completed their final exams.

“Coming out of finals, there’s always a little bit of a concern,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said. “You know, guys have had two weeks off and really been grinding hard in the classroom, so you never know exactly what you’re going to see out there.

“I was very pleased with our defensive intensity and ability to execute the game plan and the fundamentals of what we’re trying to teach.”

—Field Level Media