San Diego State (4-1) looks to post its sixth perfect record in an exempt event in the last eight seasons when the Aztecs face No. 25/rv Marquette (5-2) on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. PT and the game will be shown live to a national audience on ESPN2. The matchup can also be heard on The Mighty 1090 and 105.7 The Walrus. Tickets are available for the event and can be purchase through Ticketmaster.
San Diego State won its third consecutive game and improved to 2-0 in the Wooden event, rallying from a 12-point first-half deficit and led for the final 27:45 in defeating No. 20/18 Creighton, 86-80, in the semifinal round Friday night in Fullerton, Calif.
The Aztecs trailed 14-2 minutes into the game, but closed the half on a 38-16 run to build a 10-point halftime lead. The Aztecs built the lead to 19 points early in the second half and shot 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) from the free-throw line to close out the six-point win.
Senior point guard Xavier Thames scored a career-high 26 points (7-10 FGs, 4-5 3FGs), which is the highest total by an Aztec player this season. One night after leading the team in scoring for the first time of his career, sophomore forward Winston Shepard posted his first career double-double after he recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds, while adding two assists and two steals. Junior forward JJ O’Brien chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
San Diego State had a 37-29 advantage on the glass and held the Bluejays to a season-low 80 points. In all, five Aztecs reached double-figures, including Dwayne Polee II (11 points) and Matt Shrigley (10 points) off the bench.
The victory marked the 11th win over a nationally ranked opponent since January, 2010. Now the Aztecs try and accomplish something that has never occurred in program history. San Diego State looks to defeat a top-25 opponent in consecutive games for the first time in school history. SDSU has won consecutive meetings against top-25 teams, but never in games that were back to back.
San Diego State and Marquette are meeting for the third time. The Aztecs, who defeated their first opponent that was a member of the Big East Conference at the time of game on Friday, will look for their second straight win over the league on Sunday.