Stewart Quits SDSU Basketball Squad

SAN DIEGO — Saying he could no longer take the frustration, Nelson Stewart, the only senior on the San Diego State basketball team, has left the Aztecs with one game remaining.

Both Stewart and Jim Harrick, SDSU’s interim coach, said the decision was mutual. It came one day after Stewart walked out in the middle of practice.

“I just decided to pass on the last game,” said Stewart, who will miss Friday’s game at Hawaii.

He said his reasons for leaving stemmed “from the frustration of my whole three years of being here. It’s hard for me to accept only two wins, and my schoolwork is going bad. I didn’t have enough time.”

The decision is one more bad mark on the worst season in school history. With only Hawaii left, the Aztecs are 2-25. The previous season worst came in 1986-87, when SDSU finished 5-25.

“He decided he didn’t want to participate at this time in the program,” Harrick said. “And I decided not to have him.”

Stewart, 6 feet 7, has started 17 games this season and was averaging eight points and six rebounds per game. Before being held to only two points at Brigham Young on Saturday, Stewart had scored in double figures in five of the previous seven games.

But it has been a rocky season for the senior from Chicago. He criticized his teammates for a lack of effort on several occasions, and he was suspended for one game by then-coach Jim Brandenburg after stripping off his jersey and storming off the court near the end of the first half of a game against Texas El Paso on Jan. 23.

Then, during a scrimmage on Tuesday, Stewart walked out.

“I wasn’t feeling too well and I just left a little early,” Stewart said. “I credit Coach Harrick with the good job he’s doing. I hope he gets the job. I don’t want anyone to think this has anything to do with him. . . .

“I hated going out like this as a senior. Missing practice (Wednesday), I kind of felt like I was letting the team down.

“I apologize for all of that.”