LAS VEGAS — Energy. Veteran presence. Shot making.
These were key factors in the blowout loss against Michigan. They were last night as well, but in the Aztecs’ favor this time around.
San Diego State men’s basketball (3-2) took care of business against a tall, physical Oregon opponent (4-2) in a dominant 97-80 win Tuesday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena. The Aztecs changed the narrative after bouncing back from their loss to the Ducks last year at the inaugural Players Era Festival.
“I don’t want to be one of the teams that goes 0-3, because there’s going to be a really good basketball team here that’s going to go 0-3,” head coach Brian Dutcher said postgame. “You get the first win, and now we’ll try to go 2-1, like we were last year in the event.”
Both teams came into the game extremely sloppy with a combined eight turnovers in the first three minutes.
Oregon star guard Jackson Shelstad started the contest red hot, hitting three triples and scoring the Ducks’ first nine points. The Aztecs had no answer for him early on.
But the offense clicked for SDSU early on, fueled by junior guard BJ Davis, who set a career-high 21 points, and established his presence immediately. He got to the left corner on consecutive possessions for two buckets from behind the line, giving the Aztecs a 23-15 lead.
“You are playing a game like this, the rim looks the size of the ocean. Everything you throw up there you think is going in,” Dutcher said.
The Aztecs’ defense also had life throughout the first half, including a steal from Byrd jumping the passing lane to a lob pass finished at the rim by freshman forward Tae Simmons.
However, one of the sights from the first half was senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters getting two three-pointers to find the bottom of the net. After his previous shooting performance of 1-for-7 from the field, it was relieving to see the veteran contribute 10 first-half points on a consistent 4-for-6.
The shots were falling for both rosters towards the end of the half, allowing the Aztecs to maintain a 10-point lead going into the break at 51-41. SDSU led the rebounding battle at 16-8 and allowed zero second-chance points.
“I think we did a really good job at understanding the defense was going to win us this game, and obviously rebounding as well,” Dixon-Waters said. “We had our shots falling, so definitely think us being physical bothered them a little bit.”
Dixon-Waters started the half with seven straight points for the Aztecs, including a tough turnaround jumper and his third triple of the game.
Byrd got the job done on the defensive side of the ball with a mean block on Oregon’s layup attempt. The sequence led to a contested finish from senior forward Miles Heide, then a backcourt steal and layup by senior forward Jerimiah Oden to force an Oregon timeout.
Compton found himself in the right place at the right time for the potential highlight of the game — a decimating posterizer over an Oregon big man. Harrington followed the huge play with a swift left-handed layup to give the Aztecs a 71-56 lead.
Davis and Dixon-Waters continued to have a lights-out night, knocking down two triples from the right wing. A towering block from Gwath led to offense on the other end, resulting in an emphatic dunk from Byrd on the fastbreak.
“We just honed in a little more in the second half defensively and forced them to shoot a lower percentage, so credit to the coaches and how they put us in position to go out there and be successful,” Davis said.
However, a foul call that the arena did not agree with forced Byrd to take a seat after picking up his fourth at 9:20 left in the game. Luckily, Harrington managed to pick up the slack and extend the lead back to 17 with a three. The Aztecs’ pressure forced the Ducks to go on a 2-for-11 stretch from the field, creating more transition opportunities.
After SDSU extended its lead to 24 points, its largest of the night, the remainder of the game was fairly back and forth, capping off a dominant 97-80 win. Dixon-Waters and Davis led the way, combining for 43 points with Gwath tallying on 13 points and a strong four blocks on the night.
The win was not only a bounce-back moment but also a statement.
After a pitiful shooting performance the night before, SDSU shot an astounding 67.2% from the field and 47.8% from beyond the arc. The Aztecs were not going to let the blowout loss define them and they put it behind them immediately, just as Coach Dutcher echoed.
“We’re not going to think about Michigan, we’re not going to discuss it again … I’ll tell them the same thing,” he said. “As good as we played, when we walk out of the building … All our focus will be on Baylor.”
Despite the impressive victory, the Aztecs will shift their mind to their last opponent at the 2025 Players Era Festival, where they’ll face Baylor at 7:30 p.m. tonight on TruTV.
