What San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher said after win vs. San Jose State
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For the second time in two weeks, San Diego State found themselves trailing San Jose State by double digits in a must-win game.
A 17-0 run to open the second half tied the game and fueled the Aztecs (16-6, 9-4) to a 69-66 win over San Jose State at Provident Credit Union Event Center. Senior guard Nick Boyd, in his first season as an Aztec, keyed the second-half comeback. He scored seven points during the 17-0 run and scored 14 second-half points to go along with four assists and three steals.
The Aztecs improved to 37-4 in their last 41 games following a loss. San Diego State will return home for two games starting with a showdown against Boise State on Saturday night at Viejas Arena.
Here's what Dutcher had to say after the game.
On if there was panic at halftime:
“Their defense, the way they were attacking our ball screens, we couldn't move the ball forward or back. We couldn't hit the rolling post. I put them in tough positions, because we ran a lot of ball screens, and I thought eventually they would give in where we could get downhill, hit the rolling post, and they didn't for the first half. I'd seen enough, and I went away from it for the most part. I did set ball screens, but it was a lot more, screen away, curl like a ball screen, curl into the paint on the dribble. Sometimes a screen away, if you could curl, it's like a ball screen. We did a lot more of that in the second half. Last time we played, they were in drop lateral hedge. They drag you up, and the guard could still come forward. Tonight, every ball screen, they jumped out and almost stopped us in our tracks, and we couldn't find anybody. We started to run into the ball because the guard didn't have an outlet and our spacing was bad. Their defense was very good, and I didn't put us in a very good position in the first half to be successful. I just wanted to make sure they didn't give in, which they haven’t all year. I told them I'd find something that would help them.”
On SDSU’s comebacks this season:
“They're gritty. I've said it since day one, since the UCLA scrimmage. I said it's a gritty team, and we've had 18-0 runs, 20-0 runs, 17-0 runs this year already. I can't believe any Aztec team has ever had those kinds of runs in the same year, maybe one a year, or one every three years, but to do it within five games is unbelievable. When we played them at home, it was almost harder, even though it was at home. We were down 21 in the first half, and there’s always time, but then they got ahead by 16 in the second half, so we had to come back from 16 down with nine minutes to go in the second half. Here, we got back into it immediately to start the half, which is hard to do, but we found a way to do it. We just kept plugging along. I told them this early in the year, when we had a high-turnover first half, you get three turnovers. If you have more than that, we don't have a chance to win. We had four in the second half after having 12 in the first half. We took better care of the ball and that was a big, big plus.”
On if the comebacks are sustainable:
“We’re finding a way, and we keep plugging along. Like I said, every time we face something new, we find a way to correct and move on from it. I probably could have gone to what we ran in the second half earlier in the first half, but I just kept plugging away. I thought it would work, and it didn't so we went to something totally different and had good success with it. Obviously, we started the game dropping everything, and they were living at the rim. We just switched every screen, fronted [Robert] Vaihola and took our chances.”
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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.