What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher and the players said ahead of home game against Fresno State

San Diego State faces longtime rival Fresno State for the only time this season on Saturday night at Viejas Arena.

The Mountain West is back to an unbalanced schedule after the addition of Grand Canyon, so the Aztecs miss a return trip to Fresno. The Aztecs, who are tied for the MW lead with Utah State, and the Fresno State Bulldogs will move from the MW to the new-look Pac-12 after this season.

Tipoff is at 8 p.m. between the Aztecs (10-4, 4-0 MW) and Bulldogs (7-8, 1-3). The game will air on CBS Sports Network.

“They're dangerous offensively,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “They can really shoot the three, which you know, if you've covered me long enough, always is a concern of mine. If you run into a night where a team gets hot for three, they're better defensively and more connected. I'm looking forward to a real challenging game tomorrow night here in Viejas Arena.”

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

Dutcher on facing teams that space out and shoot a lot of 3-pointers

“We've always done a decent job of taking threes away. They have a seven-foot center, he presents a size problem. If we switch on ball screens, it's hard to front a guy that big. They’re well coached, and they will try to take advantage of that. We're mixing up our ball screen coverages, so we have other stuff to go to instead of just switching.”

Dutcher on Fresno State’s backcourt

“They've got a talented team. Zaon Collins is a returning player, and then they have a bunch of new guys. Jake Heidbreder, I think, scored 17 on us twice when he was at Air Force, and he can really score the ball, and so we have to be conscious of him. Then they have other pieces around them that are talented. They shoot it way better than they did a year ago. Last year, they really tried to attack off the bounce, drive and get to mid-range, and now they can space the floor and cause problems doing that. I'm concerned. I am every game, though, so that's what they pay me to do, is be concerned and come up with a game plan that I think will be successful. We're not taking them lightly. We are preparing for a very big game and try to stay undefeated in the Mountain West.”

Dutcher on Miles Heide’s recent play

“Miles Heide is playing really good basketball, and obviously the put backs he had against Nevada were critical for the victory. We're really excited about Heide. He missed practice yesterday, hopefully he will be back on the floor today. He's leading us in rebounds at six per game. I apologized to him. I told him that BJ Davis was leading us in rebounds at 5.8 a game in the conference, but Miles has got him by 0.2. Miles is good out there, and we need him out there to be as good as we can be.”

Junior forward Miles Heide on if the team is improving

“I definitely think we took it a step up with our intensity and our mentality when it comes to defense, because earlier in the year, we were struggling to get stops, and we were letting up a lot of points, but now we’ve honed our focus on defense. Defense is our offense, and that's the culture that we have here. We've come together as a group and decided that wins are really all we want so that's what we've been doing.”

Heide on leading the team in rebounding

“I'm not the tallest on our team, but I definitely think I'm the strongest, so I'm able to get as many boards as possible. Growing up, I've not always been the best scorer, so rebounding was kind of my strong suit. That's what I've been applying to now is to just keep rebounding, do as much as I can.”

Heide on the importance of rebounding

“You need to win the rebounding war to win the game. I think that's the biggest part, is just being able to win the rebounding war every single game.“

Senior guard Miles Byrd on how the improved defense has helped the offense

“When I start well defensively, with steals and getting out in transition, it brings the extra spark, extra addition to my offense, and just creates offense for our team as a whole, getting out in transition and being able to run.”

Byrd on attacking the rim more

“I think getting good ones early is important for me, starting the game, getting the two feet in the paint, getting good looks, getting my shot going, getting my game going. It’s just been a mindset flip that I've been talking to the coaches about. My dad was a basketball player, so I talked to him a lot as well. Getting the good ones early is going to lead to getting good ones late.”

Byrd on the matchup against Fresno State

“I think that Fresno State is a really good team. We’re watching film, it’s the second day on them. We still have to learn a little bit more in today's film session, today's practice. It's a really challenging team. The guard that was at Air Force, he's a really good player. After I committed, I came to Air Force at SDSU my senior year of high school, and I remember he was a good player there. The big kid from France is a multi-year pro. We have a lot of respect for what they have over there, but I think right now, we’re just focusing on what we need to do to be successful on Saturday night.”