What Brian Dutcher and the Aztecs said after San Diego State’s win over Wyoming

San Diego State men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher knew Tuesday night’s game against Wyoming would be tough, which is why he kept reminding his Aztecs that it’s February, when it’s getting close to crunch time in the Mountain West race.

The Aztecs beat the Cowboys 72-63 behind Reese Dixon-Waters’ season-high 23 points on Tuesday night, their 18th straight win against Wyoming at Viejas Arena.

It came three days after a letdown of a loss at Utah State that cost them sole possession of first place in the MW and put them back on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

“Hard-fought home victory. Sundance [Wicks] has done a great job with that team. You just watch them play, no matter if they went on a two or three-game losing streak and then had a big win over Colorado State, they play so hard for him all the time,” Dutcher said. “There’s no giving up in that team. Even when we had an 11-point lead at half, I knew it wasn't safe. I thought we had an opportunity to really extend the lead in the second half. We did, but we were getting stop after stop, and we weren't scoring at that same level to put it to 18 or 20 points ahead.

“Wyoming hung around within range, and I was just trying to get our guys to play really urgently in February. The way Wyoming moves, they move at such an urgent pace, and we had to play that way defensively, and we did for most of the game. We held them in the 30s from the field, but when you relax at all, you let up just a half a step, then they're capable of making threes and hurting you, and they did.

“They're a good offensive team, and he does a really good job. But to our credit, over the course of 40 minutes, we played a pretty good basketball game. Obviously, there are two or three-minute stretches here and there where you're not at your best, but that's basketball. I was happy with our effort tonight.”

Here are more highlights of Dutcher and the players’ news conference:

Dutcher on the importance of this two-game stretch

“These two games were critical to our season. This one tonight at home against Wyoming, who I felt was dangerous, now we go to Air Force, which is hard to play at. Look at Air Force’s record. It's an academy team, and if we could get a win there, we'll be in first place with a bye week. That's what I want to have happen in the worst way, so that we can hopefully get Magoon [Gwath] or Elzie [Harrington] both back working. We can be at full strength for the stretch run.”

Dutcher on the overall feeling with the Aztecs

“I'm excited about this team. I'm excited about the future here in February, sitting in first place in the Mountain West right now, and we're feeling good about ourselves. We're not playing perfectly, obviously, we all know that, but we're playing well enough, and I'm proud of that.”

Dutcher on Reese Dixon-Waters taking contested shots so comfortably

Reese from deep!

📺 @CBSSportsCBB pic.twitter.com/qNVjRrULgE
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) February 4, 2026

“That's the beauty of Reese. I run plays to get him shots, but he can rhythm dribble and draw fouls, so he can create his own shot. That's what makes him super dangerous right now. Even if they do a good job defending him, if he has a ball in his hands, he can always create space to create his own shot. That's what's making him so dangerous in the conference.”

Dutcher on defensive production going into the final stretch of the season

“We're getting more urgent. I told them when we got off the bus from Logan, that it's February, and so our urgency has to go up another level. We have five weeks left in the season, and we have to be at our absolute best.”

Senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters on how he feels about his strong offensive stretch

“It has been getting easier, because I am taking higher-quality shots than I used to, playing within the flow of the game and being aggressive. Having an aggressive mindset and practicing how I want to play has been helping me.”

Dixon-Waters on what changed for him to become so consistent offensively

“You cannot play basketball while wavering and thinking about whether your shot is going to go in or not. Every time I shoot the ball, I think it’s going in. I don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t, but I think to myself, it is going in beforehand. I play confidently and know that my teammates and my coach have confidence in me as well.”

Senior forward Jeremiah Oden on how it feels scoring his 1,000th career point

“It feels really good to score 1,000 points. I was hoping that it would play out like that, that I would be able to get it tonight against Wyoming at home. It felt really good. It is a full-circle moment for me. A lot of fans who were traveling with their team and their staff members saw me score my first point. It was probably cool for them to see me score my 1,000th point, too. It was a good moment.”

#1000 @JeremiahOden #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/EV7fxnnTzY
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) February 4, 2026