Who will separate themselves from the pack?
San Diego State men’s basketball is just three games into the season, but the largest question early on regards who their go-to guy is on offense.
After an electric opening night win where guard Miles Byrd went for 20 points, the Scarlet and Black have had a new leading scorer in both of their last two contests. Against Occidental, guard BJ Davis went for a team high 16 points, and against Gonzaga guard Nick Boyd put up 23 points.
SDSU has also had different players lead their team in assists in all three contests.
The offense early on is yet to find a number one who can go get you a basket and beat his man one-on-one. This discrepancy was clear against Gonzaga, who has their number one option in guard Ryan Nembhard.
While Boyd has done a stellar job of manning the offense and keeping it organized, the off ball actions and constant movement have brought a level of inconsistency.
Despite the inconsistencies in who has the ball in their hand, head coach Brian Dutcher believes in Byrd’s ability to take the reins as the team’s leading scorer.
“Byrd struggled today… We got to get him back and healthy, I think he’s capable of putting 20 points on the board like he did in the opener,” he said.
Following his big night in game one, Byrd was sidelined against Occidental with an ankle injury, then returned against Gonzaga in a limited capacity before cramps kept him off the floor for the majority of the second half.
It was a night of getting his legs back under him for Byrd, as the final stat line read zero points on 0-for-4 shooting in just 22 minutes of action. A valuable drop-off compared to the season opener where Byrd played 31 minutes.
Basketball has its complexities, but when your team is on the road against a hostile crowd and is losing momentum, having a guy who can get to the line or find a quality look one-on-one goes a long way.
This isn’t your typical Aztec personnel
The Aztec way of developing players who have been in the program for multiple years, preparing them to make an instant impact in their junior and senior years seems to be losing its traction. With the implementation of NIL, building a college basketball roster has become a year by year situation, with players leaving and coming every season. Coming into this year, SDSU ranked No. 198 in DI experience at 1.69 years.
The early highlight of the season has been the backcourt duo of guards Nick Boyd and BJ Davis. On Monday night against Gonzaga the pair rose to the occasion. Boyd tallied 23 points and nine rebounds, while Davis poured in 15 points and a steal.
Davis spoke postgame about his early experience alongside Boyd.
“Its been great having a vet alongside me,” he said. “I learn so much from him… He pushes us in practice and is a great leader.”
The depth of the guard room doesn’t stop there, as guard Wayne McKinney III contributed 11 points and two rebounds, serving as the backup point guard to Boyd.
Just last week against Occidental, McKinney III reached double figures in points just 5:36 into the game, accounting for 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range.
Dutcher reflected on the contributions from the three guards who played the most minutes against Gonzaga.
“Boyd and BJ played well while Wayne was aggressive in attacking the basket, he said. “We had open looks that would change the rhythm of the game if they went in.”
Backing up Davis is guard Taj DeGourville, who displayed flashes against Gonzaga during his five point, three rebound, one steal and one block night. DeGourville is a true freshman playing against the No. 3 team in the nation in just his first month of collegiate basketball, the program will only rely on him more as time goes on.
This four man backcourt depth allows Dutcher to go multiple players deep and have little to no drop off in production, especially when guard Reese Waters returns from his foot injury in a month. Waters gave the Aztecs 9.6 points and 3.7 rebounds a game just last season.
The big men have to establish an identity
There’s certainly a high ceiling for the SDSU big men. With freshman forwards Magoon Gwath and Pharoah Compton manning the four spot while centers Jared Coleman-Jones and Demarshay Johnson Jr. hold it down at the five.
Gwath has all the tools to draw attention on offense while commanding the paint on defense. Unfortunately, the growing pains of a freshman in division one basketball are glaring. Gwath spent most of his night in foul trouble on defense, eventually fouling out of the game late in the second half while often looking lost on the offensive end.
After an up and down night for Gwath, Dutcher spoke the need for a quick turnaround
“Obviously it’s a tough task to throw him in there and ask him to play against a fifth year senior in Ike,” he said. “He’ll have to do it again next week… there is no rest, we’re playing the best of the best.”
Gonzaga came in with a game plan to make the SDSU bigs move their feet and guard a heavy dosage of high pick n rolls and pick n pops for the full 40 minutes, and it reaped benefits for them. Coleman-Jones was caught in no mans land when playing the five serving as the hedge man for the Gonzaga duo of Ryan Nembhard and Braden Huffs pick n pop in the first half. When he didn’t hedge, it ended in a full switch, where Nembhard backed it out and had the six foot 10 center in isolation on the perimeter.
Huff, who was yet to make a three pointer on the season, chalked down 10 points and two threes in the first half while their starting center Graham Ike sat with foul trouble.
When Ike returned for the second half, the high pick n pop turned into a downhill attack, with Nembhard and Ike capitalizing on their strength and experience in the PnR game. The combo combined for 32 of Gonzaga’s 40 points in the last 20 minutes of play, with Ike having 20 of the 32 and getting to the free throw line nine times.
Ike found heavy success when the Aztecs were forced to switch against the ballscreens, getting easy layups off Nembhard pitching over and dropping it in.
Dutcher emphasized the problems that the Gonzaga duo posed for his defense
“Nembhard and Ike were dynamic,” he said. “Nembhard makes everybody’s life easy on offense… He did to us what he’s done to everybody, he’s good off ball screens and makes you pay every time.”
When the Aztecs managed to stop the action, the rebounding was their Achilles heel, as Gonzaga snagged nine offensive rebounds in the second half alone.
“When you run into a team that’s a lot bigger than you it shows the importance of moving them once you box them out,” Dutcher said. “You can’t just settle and go up with them, and they made us pay for that.”
If the Scarlet and Black hope to contend in the Mountain West and find themselves alive deep in March, the four and five spots simply have to get better.
Through the first three games of the season, the starting duo of Gwath and Coleman-Jones are averaging a combined 12 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
To put it into perspective, just last season SDSU matched up with New Mexico for the Mountain West championship. Heading into that game, SDSU forward Jaedon LeDee averaged 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds himself. For New Mexico, forward JT Toppin and center Nelly Junior Joseph averaged a combined 21.3 points and 17.3 rebounds.
For an added context on the necessity of production from your four and five spots, the national championship winning UConn Huskies had forward Alex Karaban and center Donovan Clingan combine for an average of 26.3 points and 12.5 rebounds.
If the production is limited from Gwath and Coleman-Jones, capping the production of their opposition becomes a necessity. The road doesn’t get easier for them, as their next opponent is Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who’s currently averaging 25.8 points and 8.5 rebounds.
It’s early in the season and the group has new faces across the board, but the gelling of the team is going to have to be expedited by Tuesday, Nov. 26 when they go head to head with No. 13/14 Creighton in Las Vegas, Nevada.
