San Diego State men’s basketball improves to (4-3) on the season after a hard-fought victory over Utah Valley, 77-66.
The Aztecs entered the evening coming off a tough three-game stretch at The Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas, where SDSU lost to No. 7 Michigan and Baylor in games where the Aztecs looked outmatched.
Back at Viejas Arena for the first time since the Nov. 18 loss to Troy in double overtime, the Aztecs were able to secure the victory and defend home court against Utah Valley in a back-and-forth contest.
SDSU scored 59 of its 77 points off the bench, including two monster games from guard BJ Davis and freshman forward Tae Simmons. Davis ended the ball game with 18 points, shooting 50% from three-point range and a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line.
“BJ’s obviously been one of our best players, but the spark he provides off the bench, who else is going to do that?” head coach Brian Dutcher said postgame. “He’s been dynamic off the bench; he changes the rhythm of the game when he comes in.”
Tae Simmons started the game off the bench, where he scored four points in the first half alongside four rebounds. After the halftime break, Simmons came into the Aztecs’ starting lineup, where the freshman would end his night with 15 total points and seven rebounds while shooting 6-7 from the free throw line.
“Tae started the second half because of the way he rebounded in the first half,” Dutcher said. “He made a lot of really big plays, he’s guarding their best player and I thought he did a good job.”
Simmons’s role has been changing on a game-by-game basis ever since the return of Magoon Gwath and with transfer senior Jeremiah Oden both getting minutes at forward this season.
“My mentality is like how bad do you really want it, and I felt like I wanted it more than the other guy in front of me,” Simmons said postgame.
It was a quiet night for Aztecs star Miles Byrd, who in his nearly 20 minutes of action didn’t score a point and went 0-5 from the field. Coach Dutcher said postgame that Byrd had been battling an illness all week and received two IV shots before the game.
Reese Dixon-Waters also struggled for the Aztecs, going scoreless in the first half but managing to end his night with seven points, shooting 3-10 from the field.
The San Diego State depth continues to be on full display with 11 players touching the floor tonight and the bench lighting up the stat sheet.
“Our depth paid off for us, we have the depth to endure injuries, endure illness and still find a way to come out with a win,” Dutcher said.
At halftime, the Aztecs found themselves up by one point, 33 to 32, after Utah Valley closed a 10-point deficit, going on a 9-0 run to end the first half.
Coming out of the break, Utah Valley took back the lead for the first time since the score was 8-7 in the first half. SDSU would take back the lead but Utah Valley would not go away. With 3:23 left in the game, Utah Valley cut its deficit down to 69-67.
“They were very resilient, they kind of stuck through it the whole way, they made some big shots and they had good facilitators that were getting to the rim and making layups,” said Davis postgame. “We have to be more organized; they jumped into the press and we weren’t ready for it at the time.”
Center Miles Heide took a scary fall in the first half of the game, smacking the floor on his back. Heide left the game and did not return to action. Dutcher said postgame that he didn’t want to throw Heide back into the game for fear of stiffening up his back and making his recovery take longer.
Coach Dutcher used two coaches’ challenges during the game and was successful on both. Early in the second half, a blocking foul was called on Taj DeGourville, which, to the Aztecs’ coaching staff and everyone in Viejas Arena, appeared to be a charge. Dutcher used his coach’s challenge and was successful for the first time.
“How about coach Dutcher? 2-0 on the challenges today,” Dutcher said.
San Diego State plays its next home game against Lamar on Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m.
