What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said after exhibition loss to UCLA

Slow start, turnovers doomed Aztecs in 67-60 loss

San Diego State and UCLA players during an exhibition game at Viejas Arena in San Diego. | Photo courtesy of San Diego State University Athletics

San Diego State would have liked to have fared better against No. 12 UCLA in a basketball exhibition on Friday night, especially since it was in front of paying fans, as opposed to the closed-door scrimmages of recent seasons. 

But the Aztecs fell behind 17-0 and had 21 turnovers in a 67-60 loss. 

“It was a lot different than last year, not just the outcome, but to have that kind of environment,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “You could tell that we were a little nervous from the start. They got ahead by about 20 points, but we fought our way back into the game when we shot 58% in the second half.”

SDSU was without 7-footer Magoon Gwath, who’s still recovering from knee surgery in late April, and guard Miles Byrd was limited as he works his way back from an abdominal strain.

Here are the highlights of Dutcher’s postgame news conference:

Dutcher on key factors

“The two things I put on the board offensively were turnovers and playing with pace. We had 21 turnovers, but a good team, and we'll get to be that team, is going to allow 12 turnovers a game, somewhere in that range. Most of the time, you should be hovering lower than that if you're a really good team. But, 21 turnovers against a good UCLA team is tough to come back from, and they caused a lot of them because their defense is very good. I put pace as the other thing on the board. When we played slow, we had the floor spaced, but they were able to get out there and hedge ball screens and shrink and help.”

Dutcher on the second half

“I thought in the second half we moved better. We got from one thing to the next, and we played faster. I thought that loosened the floor up a little bit, where we could get to the basket, and make a few more passes. We functioned better in the second half offensively, but we just made mistakes down the stretch that we can't make.”

Dutcher on Reese Dixon-Waters’ first game back after missing last season

“He's an extremely talented player, and the reason he was picked preseason first-team all-conference a year ago. He should be right in that range again this year. I also thought he didn't press his game too hard … he let it come to him. He played his game, and Reese is at his best when he lets the game come to him. When he starts pressing, then he's not at his best. He moved the ball, and then when he found opportunities, he took advantage of them.” 

Dutcher on the team’s resilience and character to battle back

“I thought we were deep. I thought they [UCLA] got fatigued. Their starters were very good, but I'm not sure if we took advantage of the guys off the bench. We have a lot of players, so I thought we started running when we got defensive stops because we had fresh legs, and we were running hard. We missed some shots, but I think our depth was the strength, and I thought it would be this year. As long as we can accept the fact that a player might not play 30 minutes a game, but our depth will win us games, and we continue with that mindset, then we have a chance to be pretty good.”