What San Diego State's Brian Dutcher said after win vs. New Mexico
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San Diego State bounced back from Saturday’s loss with a 73-65 victory over New Mexico on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena.
The Aztecs (19-7, 12-5) outscored the Lobos by four points in each half and finished the night with four players in double figures as they continue to try and improve their positioning for the upcoming Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
New Mexico (22-6, 14-3) got 26 points from star guard Donovan Dent and 16 points from Jovan Milicevic but struggled otherwise. The other seven Lobos who played combined to shoot 7-45 against San Diego State’s top-ranked defense.
San Diego State will head on the road for games against Wyoming and UNLV before returning home for the regular season finale against Nevada on March 8.
Here’s everything San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said after the victory.
Opening statement:
“This is a tough, gutsy win tonight. We are playing our first full game without Magoon [Gwath]. [Miles] Heide stepped up and played great. Jared [Coleman-Jones] played great, and Pharoah [Compton] played great. Off the bench, our bigs were really valuable tonight, and I’m proud of all of them. They all contributed at a high level, and we beat a very good New Mexico team. The last time we played them I think they got 18 offensive rebounds, and they had 19 more shots than we had. It wasn't quite as bad. They had 12 more shots than we did tonight, and they had 17 offensive rebounds. This is a good team. Nelly Joseph had 16 offensive rebounds, but I thought we did a good job on him for the most part. We fronted him and we didn't give him any easy catches because he's a dynamic player. I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we played good defense again. We shot 54% in the second half for the second game in a row. We had 16 assists tonight, so we're playing the right way offensively. Our offense is catching up to a very good defense, and hopefully that will continue as we play our final three games of the season.”
On defending New Mexico’s physicality:
“New Mexico is one of the most physical defensive teams you're going to play, and they do it the right way. I mean, they're out there, they're into the ball, they're pressuring the ball, they're physical in the post. I just told the guys, ‘We got big brother-ed in Albuquerque. We're not going to get big brother-ed at home. We're going to come out here and meet some force with force.’ I thought we did a good job of it, and that didn't mean New Mexico backed down at all. It just means we did a better job of responding to their physicality tonight.”
On Nick Boyd’s leadership:
“Nick's a veteran. He played in the Final Four against us, so he's played deep into March. He knows what this time of year means–how much more invested you have to be in late February basketball to set yourself up for a March run. He's been a great leader. He brings great energy. He tells the team what needs to be done and how it needs to be done, and I'm grateful to have a leader like that on the team, echoing what the coaches are saying.”
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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.