What coach Brian Dutcher and the players said after San Diego State’s 40-point loss to No. 7 Michigan

San Diego State isn’t used to getting beaten this badly.

The Aztecs fell behind early against No. 7 Michigan in the Players Era Festival and ended up losing 94-54 on Monday night in Las Vegas.

Coach Brian Dutcher took the blame.

“When you're bad, you're bad from the top-down and I'm the top. So I didn't have us ready to compete at that level against a very good team,” Dutcher said. “I told them after the game that we can't think one thing about Michigan when we walk out of the arena or we'll have no chance to play against Oregon. As much as it can serve as a learning experience, this is not the time to learn from it. It's the time to put it behind us as quickly as we can, know that we're good, get our swagger back up, and come out and compete at a high level against a good Oregon team tomorrow.”

The Aztecs (2-2) must regroup in time to face Oregon at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

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

Dutcher on putting a 40-point loss in perspective

“You're just trying, at the point where you're so far down, then you're just really coaching for the next game. There's no coming back when you're that far down. I told them at halftime, we could get off to a good start in the second half, we played a little stretch toward the end of the first half where we cut into it, until they made a basket late. We kind of, I thought, played ourselves in a position where if we got off to a good start, we might be able to get back in the game. But we didn't.”

Dutcher on what he said to the team

“There's no sense in yelling at a guy that's down 30 and 40 points. He already feels bad enough. So I'm just trying to encourage them, telling them that the best way to get over it is to believe in yourself, believe in your teammates, don't get caught up in pity, because nothing good can come of that. So trust in yourself, trust in your coaching staff, and we'll work through it. We'll find a way. And I've been in programs where I got beat by 30-some points as an assistant coach, and one week later we beat the same team by 30-some points. So it's basketball. I'm not saying if we played Michigan in a week from now we beat them by 40, but it's basketball.”

Guard Miles Byrd on taking such a big loss

Nov 24, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Nimari Burnett (4) shoots against San Diego State Aztecs guard Miles Byrd (21). | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“It was just credit to Michigan. I think they came out, punched us in the mouth multiple times. In the rebound, they had 15 more rebounds than us as a team. That's something we stressed a lot in practice. So when we stress it in practice and we still come out and get outrebounded by 15, you gotta tip your cap to a team like that. That's what they do. That's what they take pride in. And they just played better than us tonight.”

Byrd on the size mismatch

“I mean most times when you got taller dudes like that trying to guard wings the main goal is to really just beat them off the dribble. I thought they had a good mix of making us drive with Mara down low, you know clogging the paint. I mean it's not a lot of open shots, not a lot of open shots to shoot. I mean, yeah, we definitely scheme for their size. We have some tall dudes that we threw on scout this week that kind of helped us prep for it, but I mean it's a little different when you're on the court with it.”

Dutcher on what’s gone wrong in consecutive losses

Nov 24, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Michigan Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) grabs a rebound against San Diego State Aztecs forward Magoon Gwath (0) and forward Miles Heide (40). | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“Obviously rotation is something we're going to have to work through, giving a lot of guys a lot of opportunities and then, depending on how they do, will determine whether we continue to play minutes for certain guys or short minutes, extend minutes for others. Guys like Elzie (Harrington) step up and have a game like this, obviously he's proven he's deserving more minutes, which I've known from the start. I feel Elzie is an incredibly talented player. He's only in his fourth game of college basketball. So there's a process with that too. With that being said, you can't just forget about veterans and guys that have put in the work for you all these years and have proven themselves good. So it's always a fine line to find the right rotation.”