With three minutes left in a Round of 32 NCAA game in Spokane on Sunday, San Diego State University led Yale 79-52. There was no reason for either team to keep their main players in. The deepest members of the bench checked in and had the opportunity to play in the biggest tournament in sports.
Yale has 16 total players on their roster. The two members who didn’t play were freshman center Jeannot Basima, who hasn’t played all season, and sophomore guard Devon Arlington, who last checked in on March 2 against Harvard.
Of the 17 players on SDSU’s roster, three didn’t check in: freshman guard Ryan Raad, freshman forward Magoon Gwath and junior guard Desai Lopez. Raad and Gwath haven’t played in a game all season, while Lopez hasn’t checked in since December. The Aztecs beat the Bulldogs, 85-57, and SDSU faces a repeat matchup Thursday against #1 seed UConn, who beat the Aztecs in the 2023 March Madness final.
Yale Head Coach James Jones wanted to ensure that his full team had the opportunity to tell their March Madness story.
“Everybody wants to get a taste of this so no matter where you go in life, you can always say you had an opportunity to play an NCAA game” Jones said in a post-game press conference.
With a huge revenge game coming up against UConn, this may have been the last opportunity the Aztecs had to play their entire roster.
“It’s a dream come true as a head coach,” SDSU Head Coach Brian Dutcher said. “You got guys who put all the work in, and they get in some regular season games at the end, but to play in the only game on TV at this hour, and play on the biggest stage, that’s a reward that they deserve.”
27 of the 28 total players will have the opportunity to play at least one more game at the collegiate level. Meanwhile, Sunday was August Mahoney’s final game. He leaves the Bulldogs as the all-time leader in games played.
“I’m looking forward to reunions and being able to tell some stories when I come back,” Mahoney said. “I might not be wearing the jersey, but I’ll sure as hell be across the way being the most lunatic person cheering them on.”
Both the Bulldogs, or “VanDogs” as they were known for the weekend, and the Aztecs are headed east. Yale is getting back to the books while SDSU is headed to Boston to face the UConn Huskies at 4:39 p.m. on Thursday, March 28.