What San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said before matchup against Boise State
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Ahead of two upcoming home games against Boise State and Fresno State, San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher spoke with the media on Friday afternoon.
San Diego State (16-6, 9-4) will return to the court on Saturday night, hosting Boise State (17-7, 9-4) at Viejas Arena. The Broncos and Aztecs along with Colorado State enter Saturday in a three-way tie for third place in the Mountain West regular season standings.
The Aztecs and Broncos played in Boise in early January, a game won by San Diego State 76-68. Miles Byrd and Taj DeGourville led the Aztecs during January’s win, both finishing with double digits in the scoring column. San Diego State displayed their elite defense in that victory, holding Boise State’s two leading scorers, Tyson Degenhart and Alvaro Cardenas to a combined 18 points on 4-19 shooting.
Here's what Dutcher said on Friday.
Opening statement:
“We are excited to get on the floor back home against a very good Boise State team that's coming off an eight-day layoff. They're well-coached. Leon [Rice] does a great job. [Tyson] Degenhart and [Alvaro] Cardenas are two of the best players in this league, and we will have our hands full, but hopefully, the fans will be here–which I know they will–and will give the kind of effort that will allow us to get back on the winning track here at home.”
On the Boise State scouting report:
“It starts with [Tyson] Degenhart and [Alvaro] Cardenas. Cardenas is in the top 10 in the country in assists per game. Degenhart is the preseason MVP of this conference and is playing like it again right now, so we will have our hands full. Both teams will make adjustments from the first game–that's a thing we've seen more of this year. There are a lot of good coaches in this league. The second time you play someone is not like the first time. We'll see what adjustments they made over eight days. There'll be game-time adjustments like we had to make in San Jose at halftime. This is where head coaches earn their money a little bit; see what the other guy is doing, make the necessary adjustments, and try to find a way to win a game.”
On the importance of rebounding against Boise State:
“We complain about our rebounding every day–that we don't rebound it well enough; we have to become a better rebounding team. But if you look at the Mountain West standings, we're the top offensive rebounding team in the league, and we're the third-ranked defensive rebounding team in the league. We feel we have to be better at it to reach our potential. The numbers say one thing, but our eyes say something else, so we have to rebound the ball tomorrow. That's why we won the first game at Boise was our offensive rebounding. They know that. We know that. It’s going to be probably a collision in the paint tomorrow to see who can win the rebounding war.”
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-770033d1c5c4820fdbde4ecf2452e810.jpg "Bodie De Silva")
Bodie DeSilva has been covering sports in San Diego for more than a decade. He previously covered San Diego State athletics for Scout/Fox Sports.