San Diego State basketball lands commitment from Rice guard

Addition of Nick Anderson will help restock backcourt

Nov 17, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Rice Owls guard Nick Anderson (23). | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Coach Brian Dutcher of the  San Diego State Aztecs has landed another player out of the transfer portal to help stem the departures following the Aztecs’ disappointing season. 

Guard Nick Anderson, who had a big season for the Rice Owls, has committed to the Aztecs, according to numerous reports on Tuesday. 

Anderson’s arrival comes three days after guard Taj DeGourville entered the portal, the second guard to leave Montezuma Mesa and the sixth player overall who departed after the Aztecs failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons. 

What this means for the Aztecs

Anderson’s signing will help overcome the loss of wing Miles Byrd and guard BJ Davis to the portal, as well as the loss of leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters, who is out of eligibility.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Anderson played in all 31 games, with 29 starts, and was named American Conference honorable mention. 

He finished second on the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game, steals at 1.2 and free throw percentage at 81.2%. He led the Owls in field goal percentage at 43.8%, 3-pointers with 84 and 3-point field goal percentage at 40.0%. He averaged 4.3 rebounds.

Anderson will have one year of eligibility left after playing two seasons at St. Thomas and one each at Prairie View A&M and Rice. 

Anderson will be added to the backcourt mix of Elzie Harrington and Latrell Davis. 

Harrington started 17 of the 23 games in which he played. He averaged 8.0 points, 2.3 assists and 1.6 rebounds. He missed six games during the heart of the Mountain West schedule with a leg injury, as well as the final four games of the season, including all three in the MW tournament. 

Dutcher said that if Davis hadn’t redshirted, he would have been an everyday player and the Aztecs would have been an NCAA Tournament team. 

Instead, the Aztecs were on the bubble much of the season, lost the MW tournament championship game against Utah State to miss out on the automatic bid and were then snubbed on Selection Sunday because of their weak at-large resume. 

Portal update

Anderson is the second addition through the portal. On Saturday, Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry, a 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward, announced he was transferring in from Sacramento State to SDSU.

Cherry is coming off a serious leg injury suffered in Sacramento State’s sixth game last season, against UCLA. But he put up big numbers up to that point and, if healthy, could be the rebounder Dutcher was talking about signing after the abrupt end to the season. 

Byrd, the last link to SDSU’s 2023 Final Four team, committed to Providence last week and forward Pharoh Compton committed to Oregon. 

Davis, Magoon Gwath, Miles Heide and Taj DeGourville remain in the portal.