What Brian Dutcher, players said after San Diego State’s statement win over Utah State

The San Diego State Aztecs don’t have long to celebrate their biggest win of the season, an 89-72 victory against Utah State that pulled them into a tie with the Aggies atop the Mountain West standings.

Now it’s off to New Mexico for a game Saturday morning and another chance to see if they can revive their flat-lining chances for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“We did what we had to do, we fought through a tough stretch of two really hard losses and got back on the winning track, and we're in first place with three more games to play,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “Our fate is in our own hands. We know how hard it's going to be to go to The Pit. They're one game out. They're going to be playing for a chance to get even in the standings with us. We have to enjoy this win tonight, but tomorrow we have two days to get ready for New Mexico. We'll play there, then we have two days to get ready for Boise State. Then we have two days to get ready for UNLV. We're in it now. This is it. We have to be at full strength, and we have to be mentally tough in order to endure this stretch of our season.”

Reese Dixon-Waters led the Aztecs with 20 points.

Saturday’s game tips off at 11 a.m. PT and will be shown on CBS.

Here are the highlights of Dutcher and the players’ news conference.

Dutcher on the big win

“This was probably our most complete game of the season and probably our most complete roster of the season. We had everybody on our team playing. I didn't play Magoon [Gwath] enough against Colorado State. He didn't practice for two days, and he has to practice hard in order to play. I told him yesterday that if he gets through practice and practices hard, I'll start him because we're not going to be as good as we can be unless he's on the floor. To get him back on the floor was a major lift for the team, and then having Elzie [Harrington] get back into shape, and BJ [Davis] coming off the bench and igniting us, we're at full strength again.”

Dutcher on the bench

“The bench was dynamic. Taj [Degourville] and BJ were dynamic. Tae [Simmons], what an emotional guy he is, igniting the crowd, getting dunks, making plays. It's a really complete game. We shot 54% from the field, 60% in the second half and 43% from three. We got beat by 15 rebounds at their place, and we beat them by eight today.

Dutcher on limiting Utah State’s three-point shooting

“Well, it didn't look like we were going to limit them at all at the start. They made every shot they took. We switched ball screens to stop them from picking and popping. We chased [MJ] Collins as best we could. He's a very good player, and he made a couple of threes, but we did a good job for the most part contesting them. They're going to make some, but I thought we were defensively there when they took them.”

Dutcher on Reese Dixon-Waters

“Reese had a good game plan offensively, and he helped a lot on penetration. To his teammates' credit, they found him on the skip passes. They found him in those corners for open threes. He made shots, but his teammates found him in order to get those kinds of shots. We were dynamic. He scored 20 again, so New Mexico will play differently. They won't leave him for a minute. They'll be wherever he goes.”

Senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters on playing with urgency after two straight losses

“Absolutely, the last two games we could have been better, but I definitely think we're back to where we were before. Our urgency, our toughness and attention to detail today was a step in the right direction.”

Dixon-Waters on the early threes giving him confidence

“I definitely feel like today the threes got me going. I shot the easy ones, and they got me into the game's rhythm. I let the game come to me and didn't force anything. I felt really good today.”

Sophomore forward Pharaoh Compton on the team’s energy and confidence

“Toughness all around, knowing that we're the tougher guys, we're the tougher team, and that's how we're going to win games.”

Compton on the emotions down the final stretch of the season

“You could describe it as a rollercoaster. We're just being where our feet are, trying not to look ahead too much, but these next two games are a big opportunity for us.”