What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher and the players said after losing to Baylor in the Players Era Festival

Aztecs crumble in second half to finish 1-2 in Las Vegas

Nov 25, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; San Diego State Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

San Diego State gave up more than 90 points for the second time in three games in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, which is a concern for coach Brian Dutcher. 

The Aztecs lost 91-81 to Baylor on Wednesday night, two nights after being embarrassed 94-54 by No. 7 Michigan. In between, they beat Oregon 97-80.

“Obviously disappointed in the loss, but it's a hard tournament to play in, three games in three nights,” Dutcher said. “The typical thing with us is our offense is better than our defense, and that's not typically San Diego State basketball. We shot 42 percent from 3, damn near 50 percent for the game, had 20 assists on 28 baskets. So we're a pretty good offensive team, but defensively we keep lapsing.

“We knew what they were going to try to do. They were going to try to pull (Miles) Heide out. They're basically playing four guards and a power forward in their starting lineup and we knew they were going to try to pull Heide and Goon (Magoon Gwath) away from the basket and drive them and try to get them in foul trouble and that's what happened.”

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

Dutcher expounding on the defense

“So our defense has to get better or I have to find better ways to defend, and that's a little on them and a little on me. We have to find better schemes to what we do, and they have to execute game plans to perfection if we're going to have a chance to be the defensive team we want to be.”

Elzie Harrington on his first career start

“I found out pretty much before the game. What are my thoughts on it? Extremely grateful for the opportunity and the fact that the coaches trust me. I'm just upset that we didn't get the win, so that's all I'm thinking right now.”

Dutcher on starting Harrington 

“I just thought Elzie played well enough to deserve an opportunity to step in there and get a chance to start. He played very good. He made some mistakes, freshman mistakes. He got back-cut a couple times, which he'll learn from. This is all a learning process. Then even though he shot it great from the field, I thought he left some points on the board. He had a little floater that he normally makes. He had a lay-up that he wanted, a dunk that kind of slipped through his hands. He could have turned a good game into a great game, and it didn't happen. Three assists, no turnovers, so Elzie is a very good player.”

Sean Newman Jr. on what’s wrong with the defense

“I think we're just not making it tough enough for our opponents right now. They're shooting 50 percent from the field, almost 40 from three, and then we're putting them on the line too much. We have to be more disciplined, be more solid, and then we have to execute our game plan better because that's not winning basketball on the defensive end.”

Dutcher on Magoon Gwath getting in foul trouble early

“I think when you play two minutes in the first half and you're on the bench the rest of the half in foul trouble, and then the first play of the second half you get your third foul and Dave asks me, do you want to take him out, no, leave him in. He had no rhythm at all at that point. What would be the sense in taking him out? It was hard for him to get in a rhythm. Two fouls, play two minutes, come in, get a foul first play of the second half, try to play without fouling, they're falling down when you're running. It was hard for him to get back into a rhythm, I think more than anything that hurt his game tonight.”