San Diego State will honor its 2022-23 Final Four men’s basketball team before Monday evening’s season opener against Cal State Fullerton at Viejas Arena.
Banners commemorating the Aztecs’ Mountain West Conference regular- season and tournament championships and first Final Four appearance will be raised.
San Diego State returns two starters and two reserves from last season’s team that earned the fifth seed in the South Regional, upset top- seeded Alabama, 71-64, in the Sweet 16, defeated Creighton, 57-56, in the Elite 8 as Darrion Trammell made a free throw with 1.2 seconds left and overcame a 14- point second-half deficit for a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic in the Final Four on Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beating shot.
Butler was the first player to make a game-winning basket in the Final Four with his team trailing.
The Aztecs lost to Connecticut, 76-59, in the national championship game, concluding their season 32-7.
Butler and Trammell are San Diego State’s returning starters.
The Aztecs were 17th in The Associated Press’ season-opening poll, their second-highest ranking in the initial poll behind the No. 16 ranking in the 2014-15 preseason poll. The Titans are unranked.
San Diego State leads the series, 23-10, including an 80-57 victory in last season’s season opener for both teams.
Cal State Fullerton returns three starters, including Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year Tory San Antonio, and two reserves from last season’s team that was 20-13, ending its season with a 72-62 loss to UC Santa Barbara in the conference tournament’s championship game.
The 7:30 p.m. game will be televised by FS1.
–City News Service