Aztecs motivated after historic season ended at 30-2

SAN DIEGO ( AP) — San Diego State was three days away from finding out whether it would be a No. 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament — its best ever — when March Madness was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Aztecs’ season ended before they could find out how truly historic it could have been. They finished 302, ranked No. 6 and with a Mountain West Conference regular-season championship banner hanging in Viejas Arena.

The disappointment has turned to motivation for coach Brian Dutcher’s Aztecs, who enter this season unranked, just like they did last year.

“I’m most disappointed for our seniors that didn’t get to play in the tournament ... three really good players that didn’t get to play on the biggest stage,” Dutcher said, referring to fifth-year seniors Yanni Wetzell and KJ Feagin, and guard Malachi Flynn, the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year who passed up his senior season to enter the NBA draft.

“Other than that, we’ve put that behind us. We’re focused on this season. We want to get out and try to see if we can play really good basketball again this year,” said Dutcher, who’s entering his fourth season.

“I’ve let all that disappointment go by now,” said senior forward Matt Mitchell, a preseason All-MWC pick. “I do take that motivation that we were in contention. You definitely take that as motivation to go into this year and to take it to all these teams that we have to play again, just knowing that we had the ability to be there and we had the capability and hopefully the opportunity to be there again this year.”

The Aztecs get a big test in their season opener, a rare visit by No. 22 UCLA on Nov. 25 as part of a multiteam event at Viejas Arena.