What Brian Dutcher and San Diego State players said before UNLV finale
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The San Diego State Aztecs need to stay focused on one more regular-season game before moving on to the Mountain West tournament, which they need to win to assure a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season.
The Aztecs close the regular season at home against UNLV on Friday night. Remarkably, they can still share the conference title despite losing two straight and four of five. They need to beat the Runnin’ Rebels and then have New Mexico win at Utah State on Saturday for a three-way tie. If Utah State wins, it will win the title outright.
“Despite losing four of our last five games, we're a game out of first place with one game to play,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “We need some help, but we have to help ourselves first, playing a very good UNLV team at home. We'll have to be at our best in order to win that game.”
The Aztecs were voted the unanimous preseason pick to win the MW title.
The UNLV game is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. and will air on CBS Sports Network.
Here are the highlights of Dutcher and the players’ news conference.
Dutcher on the MW down the stretch
“The Mountain West right now is suffering from what everybody craves in athletics, which is parity. Parity has not been a good thing for the Mountain West this year. Utah State clinched a share of the title and has lost three out of four. New Mexico, who will play for a share of the title, has lost two out of three, and we are the three at the top of the league. It's going to make for a really good conference tournament. There are eight or nine teams capable of winning the title this year in Las Vegas, so we want to continue to do what we do, get better, play better tomorrow, leading into the tournament. If we have good fortune and can win, we still have an opportunity to get a piece of the regular season title.”
Dutcher on the team’s mentality
“We were on the bubble a week ago, and then we lost that tough game. Boise State is playing well, and so we have to just try to play our best, get in the Mountain West tournament, and try to catch fire and win that thing. The key is always just getting better. We had a really good practice yesterday, and normally I don't take the floor with two days between games, but I thought it was important we got back on the floor, and they wanted to be out there. They worked extremely hard, and they want to get better. They want to be coached. They want to win in the worst way. Sometimes it's a challenge to win a college basketball game.”
Dutcher on believing this team can get hot
“In my first year, we finished in seventh place, and we won the tournament. There's always a belief, and we've had years where we've won the regular season and got beat in the tournament.”
Senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters on what he expects from the MW tourney
“I still think we're the best team in the Mountain West. Our record may not say so, but I believe that. We’re going to go to Las Vegas with that mindset and play extremely hard and win these last games. This is my last season playing in the conference tournament, so it's definitely going to be a lot. I also want to win for the other guys, whether they're here, wherever they're at next year, and same with the coaches.”
Dixon-Waters on the team’s focus
“Everybody understands what's at stake right now. Everybody seems to be locked in, so just stay focused and go hard in practice and be ready for the game. I would love to say not to worry about what's going on in the conference tournament, but we have a game (Friday), so nobody's looking at the future. Everybody's focused on what we need to do.”
Junior guard Miles Byrd on senior night
“There's a lot of positive energy. Every senior night has energy. Boise State had theirs when we were there, and we felt it in there, just the enjoyment of the players. It will be similar for us. It will be fun holding up my jersey with my family. My grandparents, my dad's parents, have never been to San Diego, so they're coming down here for that game. It’s going to be fun to have them in what I would call home. It’s just exciting, and playing basketball is always going to be fun.”
Byrd on what the team needs to do in the upcoming games
“We've got to have better focus. With our personalities, it's easy to see us play and be like, ‘Oh, they don't care.’ We just have a lot of monotone guys who aren’t really up and down. They’re really steady and even keel. People see that, and they take it for not trying or caring, and I don't agree with that. We need to come in practicing with the right focus, working hard and trying to get better day by day. Dutch has been doing a great job. He's been saying the word belief to us. You've got to believe. If you don't believe, there's no point in coming out here and working out and practicing. We all have belief, and we all think we have a chance to go play in March.”
Byrd on his performance this season
“It's a mixture. I know, as a player, I could have been a lot better in a lot of different areas, more consistently this year. As a person, I also see the impact that I made that maybe isn't noticed on every box score. You need to see it from both angles. I see it from both angles, which allowed me to stay level-headed and continue just working to make sure our team's the best possible team that we could be.”
-bd678ba4dbad4f453246f539ee56a3b4.jpg "Bernie Wilson")
Bernie Wilson recently retired from The Associated Press after nearly 41 years, including stops in Spokane, Los Angeles and, for the final 33 years, San Diego. He grew up in Coeur d'Alene and graduated from the University of Idaho.