What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher and the players said after beating Air Force

Brian Dutcher can relax just a little bit. He and his San Diego State Aztecs will face Air Force only once more before they leave the Mountain West for the Pac-12 starting next season.

The Aztecs (6-3, 1-0 MW) surged in the second half to beat the Falcons 81-58 on Wednesday night in their final MW opener. It was also their final tuneup before facing No. 1 Arizona in Phoenix on Saturday night.

“I hate playing Air Force,” Dutcher said. “I don't sleep for a week trying to prepare for all of their stuff. Joe Scott is a really good coach. He has a really young team, but for most of the games they have played this year, they're in the game. I look up and it's close with four or five minutes to go and they haven't been able to close enough of them out because they're young.

“The fact that we were only up three at halftime is not a surprise. I told them that when we were behind 20-8 to Air Force last year. We know how good they are and how hard they are to play. They played a different zone, a three-two zone, which I hadn't seen a whole lot of. They played the switching man, and we were just trying to cut and play free and share the ball.”

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

Dutcher on the game overall

“We had 27 assists on 31 baskets. That's unheard of. That's really good basketball. We shot 68% in the second half. Our defense was solid, but our ball screen coverage wasn't very good, and they'll have to be a lot better against Arizona on Saturday. We fouled too much and didn't protect the rim, and these are all things to grow on. What I like best now is that we're finally playing games.”

Dutcher on the schedule

“We had three games in 21 days. All we're doing is practicing and it's grating on everybody. We play today, we play Saturday, we play Monday, we'll take a couple of days off for Christmas, and then we'll come back and we'll be in the Mountain West ride with two games a week. We don't have a bye week until February, so this team needs to play games now. We played the fewest games of any team in the country, and we've gotten better through practice, but practice is tedious, and we’re ready to move on beyond practice at this point.”

Dutcher on what makes Air Force a tough opponent

“Air Force is playing multiple defenses, and it takes me out of the game to a degree. Sometimes you just have to trust the players to play in space, to find open areas, to slip screens, to play more freely, and then I'm relying on the decisions they're making. I'm not micromanaging protection like some coaches do. A lot of it falls on them to play in space, to make the right reads, and to take care of the ball. They did a good job of that.”

Dutcher on the role of Miles Heide, Pharaoh Compton and Miles Byrd

MILES HEIDE THREEE

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“Byrd and Pharaoh are both dynamic players, and Heide is a very good rebounder. Heide was playing really well, and we worked hard not to let them in the post. I don't think Air Force had a post pass during this game, which is their security blanket. They want to throw it into the five-man and play splits and play off a five-man touch, and I don't think you could count on one hand how many times they were able to throw it in the post. We did a good job between Compton and Heide of not letting it in there, and that was a big part of the game plan.”

Junior guard BJ Davis on Air Force’s defense

“Air Force’s defense was interesting to figure out, but once we got the idea of it, we were able to exploit it with the cuts and the penetration in threes. It took a minute for it to open all up. I've seen their defense on film, but being out there, it's different, especially how they play it. It was a new look for us. I don't think we've seen anything like that, but I'm glad we've seen something like that now. Coming up in the future, if teams do decide to play defense like that, we'll have an answer for them.”

Davis on his second-half scoring success

The BJ Davis Show!

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— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) December 18, 2025

“I knew I had to put my foot down a little more and take my opportunities. I was seeing opportunities in the first half, but I wasn't moving on them. I was letting the game open up and develop. I knew they were going to be there; it's just a matter of picking the right opportunities.”

Junior forward Miles Heide on being more comfortable with making plays happen down low

“It’s about having the mentality and being able to switch. We want to be physical every single play. You want to go for every rebound. It's my mentality when it comes to that. Our game plan was to not let the ball inside. As a big unit, we did pretty well not letting the ball get in a lot.”

Heide on the transition from playing Air Force to Arizona

“It's not hard to play this game. Every team focuses on who they have that night. We didn't have any thoughts of Arizona until after we won the game. Our mindset is that you have to come to work every single day and focus and have the accountability to make sure your teammates are focused as well. We have a really good team we’ve got to prepare for, and we'll do that tomorrow.”