San Diego State has provided a welcome change of surroundings for a handful players this season.
Head Coach Brian Dutcher’s team has three transfers in their starting lineup: Former WSU point guard Malachi Flynn; former Santa Clara guard K.J. Feagin; and former Vanderbilt big man Yanni Wetzell.
The additions don’t stop there. There’s also junior college guard Trey Pulliam, and freshman forward Keshad Johnson – the lone first-year player expected to get regular minutes.
“I think the coaches have done a good job of finding the talent and putting it in the right places,” Flynn said.
None of those pieces are more important than their two new starting guards -- Feagin and Flynn.
“We're gonna show the city what we're about,” Feagin said.
Aztec fans may already be familiar with Flynn. As a sophomore at Washington State, he put up 24 points in a win over the Aztecs two years ago. After starting his first two seasons he made the jump to SDSU for a pretty obvious reason.
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“Consistently winning 20-plus games, going to the tournament, I think that was the biggest thing,” Flynn explained.
As he sat out last season while another accomplished guard decided to finish his career at Viejas. Feagin -- a first team All-WCC guard at Santa Clara -- was drawn in part by the opportunity to team up with Flynn. The duo quickly found common ground.
“After we both established that we're both dogs and we're gonna get after it, everything else has kind of fallen into place,” Feagin said.
As they got on the floor and figured out each other's games, more similarities became apparent.
“I think we both can create, we can both shoot the ball,” Flynn said.
“I think me and him have meshed really well,” Feagin added.
Flynn averaged nearly 16 points as a sophomore at WSU while Feagin put up over 17 per game in his last full season at Santa Clara. They know they could form an awfully potent combo at San Diego State.
“I feel like you see it in the NBA,” Feagin said. “You've got Steph (Curry) and (D’Angelo Russell), you got Dame (Lillard) and C.J. (McCollum), and you got Mal and K.J. So we gotta get it.”
