What Brian Dutcher, San Diego State took away from blowout win over Colorado State

San Diego State reached the midway point of its final Mountain West season still in first place, with a huge game coming up Saturday at Utah State.

The Aztecs beat Colorado State 73-50 on Wednesday night, down two starters but still flashing the form that was expected of them as the preseason conference favorites.

Reese Dixon-Waters scored 16 points and the Aztecs (15-5, 9-1) played their trademark tough defense, which has been missing at times this year.

“This is a really good win today. As a coach, even though it's a home game, I looked at it like a trap game because we're in the middle of four games, with three of them on the road,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “The one thing you can't do here is lose that one home game. It's hard to win on the road, and we got a split with Vegas and Grand Canyon with one win and one loss. We had a chance to get two, but we didn't get it done. We had to win this game. Now we go to Utah State, and we let it all hang out, because we know they're coming back to us.”

Saturday’s game tips off at 10 a.m. PT and will air on CBS.

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

Dutcher on the Utah State game

“This is a really good team. They'll have an advantage playing at home. Their crowd is incredible, they're talented, they're well-coached, and we're going to go in there and try to steal a road win. We've been good on the road. We're 4-1 on the road in conference. It'll take our best performance of the year to go into Logan and get a win, but I have a group of guys that are up for the challenge. We'll go over there, I'll have a cup of coffee, and we'll play at 10 a.m. San Diego time on Saturday and see if we're awake and ready to play or not.”

Dutcher on Reese Dixon-Waters and Pharaoh Compton

“They’re just getting better. Every game, Reese is getting better. When he starts rhythm dribbling and raising up for three, he's hard to deal with. He's getting a good rhythm to his game. Reese was super efficient, and he was really good at the defensive end as always. Then Pharaoh comes off the bench, and he's always shooting at a high percentage. He's always taking high-percentage shots. He makes that effort to play where he's also above the rim, dunking the ball and chasing down rebounds. I’m really happy with both of them. We're playing a little shorthand, down two starters. Elzie [Harrington] didn't play today with lower leg pain. Magoon [Gwath] is still out, and we'll see how long they're both out for. But that's the beauty of this team. Our depth with Reese and Pharaoh is just a really good part of this team.”

Dutcher on starting BJ Davis at point guard

“They probably would have fired me if I didn't start our leading scorer and leader in assists. BJ did a good job. He has been playing a lot off the ball like a two guard, and then I threw him out there as the point guard, and it's a little bit different. Now he's having to pass, and he's a dynamic scorer, so he’s able to play both positions. He's usually not running all the plays and having to run the team as much, but he did a really good job doing that today. It's been Elzie [Harrington] and Sean [Newman Jr.] that have been playing the majority of the point guard, and then I slide BJ in there with the game on the line and just get him downhill on a ball screen. He did a good job running the whole team today.”

Sophomore forward Pharaoh Compton on holding on to a big lead

“We took pride in our defense early, knowing that if we step up and lock in on that side of the floor, then no team can compete with us.”

𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗨𝗣! @PharaohCompton #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/8f9CxDV2Jp
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) January 29, 2026

Compton on improving his free-throw percentage this season

"I’ve been getting with the coaches, they've been helping me out a lot, and I've been more confident that my shots are going to go in. I also know that making my free throws is going to help the team out a lot.”

Senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters on being honored for scoring over 1,000 career points

“I’m very thankful. Obviously, I was hurt last year, so I’m just glad to be back up and playing and be able to reach that milestone. All my teammates were supportive of me, so that was a cool feeling.”

Dixon-Waters on shooting a lot of contested shots tonight

“I was shooting with confidence today and they went in. If I feel like at that moment it's a good shot for me, I'm going to take it. I'm happy with anything that I'm confident in. Every time I shoot I think it's going in.”