What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher and the players said after stunning double OT loss to Troy

Miles Byrd provided a thrilling moment with a half-court buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime tied at 89, but the San Diego State Aztecs couldn’t sustain the momentum and lost 108-107 to Troy in double overtime on Tuesday night.

“If you are a college basketball fan, you had to love that game. Unfortunately, I'm not a college basketball fan. I'm a college coach, so I’m not very happy with the results,” SDSU’s Brian Dutcher said. “Giving up 89 points in a home game at Viejas is unheard of. The loss had a lot to do with them, some to do with us, and a little bit in between. We can't give up that many points. They average 87, so they scored two over their average against us, and we knew they were dangerous. They have five guys who spread the floor and shoot the three.”

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

Dutcher on what happened

“This is the first time all year that we switched every ball screen to try to keep guys out of the paint, so we didn't have to help keep a body in front of a body, and they ended up driving a lot of those switches and getting to the basket. Thomas Dowd had 18 rebounds. That's a monster game for anybody. I thought our offense was pretty good. In the second half, we shot over 50% and in the 40s from 3. Offensively, I thought we played well enough, but we don't win with our offense. We win with our defense. It looked like this game was just racing each other to see who could score the most points, and that's not Aztec basketball.

Dutcher on how the Aztecs can bounce back

“That's the beauty of basketball. We're going to play in 20 more games that are going to go down to the last two or three minutes this season. We'll find a way to execute better down the stretch and come out on the winning end of these.”

Dutcher on Miles Byrd’s half-court shot to send the game to overtime

“It was an incredible shot. To tie the game from that distance is crazy. Usually, that's the momentum you need to win the game. We had leads in both overtimes, and both teams fought like crazy. Troy's got a good team, so we didn't lose to a bad team. We lost to a good team on our own floor, and that's where it's stinging, because it was a home game.”

MILES. BYRD. pic.twitter.com/yIPiBwFN6D
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) November 19, 2025

Dutcher on Troy’s offense

“Troy’s offense was good. We were better with Magoon in the game today because he protects the rim. [Miles] Heide and Pharaoh [Compton] didn’t give us enough rim protection when they were in the game, and Pharaoh only got 10 minutes, so looking back, I wish I'd have played him more. When Miles Heide was in there, he didn't do a good enough job coming over and protecting the rim for us. Not just blocking shots, but coming over to be the big body, and making them make an extra pass. We were too soft at the rim for a lot of the game, and we fouled a lot at the rim.

Dutcher on the lessons to be learned

“I like my team. I always say it's a long journey, and I don't know how good it's going to be at the start, or middle, or finish, but we're going to get better. We'll use this to grow from. The guys said the right things in the locker room after the game, about being better defensively, being better in practice, which are all the things you want to hear from them. That's why I know we're going to get better. No excuse-making. They're focused on the journey and getting better every day. We'll get better this week because of it.”

Junior guard Miles Byrd on what the team needs to improve on

“We need to work on everything. It’s early in the season, and we still have a lot of gelling to do as a team. We are super talented, but we had a lot of mental slippage tonight. We went away from our identity of defensive rebounding. We need to hone in on who we are as a team. We are a defensive rebounding culture team, and we did not show that.”

Byrd on his game-tying half-court shot

“Honestly, it was not even supposed to go to me. We were just trying to loop around off two of Troy’s players, and I took it upon myself when I got that loop. You’ve got a group of five guys that shoot a half-court shot before the game two times, and I think I am very comfortable with that shot. I’m glad I stepped up and drilled it. But it did not really mean much at the end in the grand scheme of things.”

Sophomore forward Magoon Gwath on his first game back

“I felt good about my game on the offensive end, and also getting three blocks feels good. After having knee surgery, getting confident in moving is the biggest thing for me to boost my confidence overall.”

The @_mbyrd21 ➡️ @magoongwath connection is BACK!! #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/qjLM2aWzl3
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) November 19, 2025

Gwath on the defensive troubles

“We had bad closeouts and mental slippage like Byrd said. We were giving too much help when we were not supposed to help. Little things like that ended up killing us.”