SAN DIEGO – The Aztecs bulldozed the Rams 75-60 Tuesday night at Viejas Arena and in doing so leapfrog Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference standings. Both hold a 4-2 record but the Aztecs own 1/2 of the tiebreaker thus far.
It was just what the doctor ordered to get an Aztecs team back in the win column. The victory meant even more for a team that took a big blow to their confidence just three days earlier vs New Mexico. Now feeling good about themselves again they can focus in on the remaining stretch.
Though players will never admit to a waining lack of confidence, there is some sort of magic that can happen when surrounded by 12,414 SDSU fans packed inside Viejas on a game night. Fortunately for State a roughly 75% full arena was enough to help them dispatch the Rams.
One player who never seems to be in need of a confidence booster?You guessed it: Miles Byrd.
Byrd is the word—or is it NBA?
The pregame plan may have been for pro scouts to come watch Colorado State wing player, Nique Clifford. What they ended up doing was witnessing a career night for Aztecs rising star, Miles Byrd.
The unquestioned player of the game Mr. Miles Byrd put up a career high 25 points, 7 steals, 6 rebounds and a host of highlight worthy plays that would make the great Aztec4Life Jamaal Franklin who was in attendance that night, smile.
Byrd’s career night made him just the 2nd player all season to record 25 points and seven steals in a game. Not bad for a player doubling his playing time from 14 minutes last season to 29 this his redshirt sophomore season.
Byrd is quickly gaining shine for his terrific season and rightfully so. The two-way player is averaging 14 points per game and quickly rising. He’s currently hitting 42% of his shots, 35% from 3 point land, and 2 assists per game—in addition to averaging 4.5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block per game.
But the stats truly don’t explain Byrd’s value to the game. A wing player of his size and length puts him in the conversation immediately. His 6’7″ frame and 7 ft wingspan are a great starting point. But knowing his strength and athleticism are only scratching the surface of his maturity has to be very enticing for many PRO scouts.
Next, his two way player status reveals his work ethic and how hard he pushes himself to excel in all areas. The defensive tenacity is a perfect fit for this SDSU program that focuses on attracting and developing a workman like character in it’s players. Byrd the son of longtime coach Calvin Byrd, knows all too well what it takes to perform at this high level D-1 ball.
Lastly, the playmaking ability through his court vision, unselfishness, and anticipation reveals itself on both sides of the ball. Whether it’s making the proper read & pass to an open player or crashing a passing lane for a steal and fastbreak to the rim, Byrd is putting the nation on notice that he isn’t timid to put it all out on the court night in and night out.
At this halfway point to the season it is abundantly clear to see, as Miles Byrd goes so too will this SDSU team go come March. Good thing for the Aztec fanbase Miles wants all the smoke that comes with being a leader. It will be an interesting rest of the season to witness how far his Aztecs can go and what all is on the table for him in the off season.
Mountain West Madness
Back to back nights this week saw a shake up in the Mountain West matchups. Tuesday night saw New Mexico slip up on the road 71-70 to a pesky San Jose State team that would just not go away.
The let down for the Lobos was maybe just that—an emotional let down. After hosting and beating the Aztecs soundly the week prior it was a special but awkward travel game to San Jose where the attendance is nearly non-existant.
Regardless the loss is unforgivable for a program trying to reach an upper echelon in the Conference and establish itself as the cream of the crop when the likes of SDSU, Utah State, Boise State, and Colorado State depart for the PAC-12.
But it didn’t end there. Utah State Wednesday night suffered their first conference loss on the road to the Rebels of UNLV. The Aggies had been living on a razer’s edge winning games against Boise State by 2 points, Nevada Reno by 5 points, and San Diego State by 1 point.
The streak ended thanks to UNLV’s Dedan Thomas Jr.’s late basket that left the Aggies soaking in their disapointment.
The losses are something to make an Aztec grin—but is it for our own good?
While having the top Mountain West teams slip up in embarrassing fashion isn’t good for the overall NET rankings and perception of the league, I’d caution Aztecs fans not to be overly alarmed.
San Diego State has set the standard for success in the conference year in and year out. If Coaches Fisher and now Dutcher ever needed to hinge their own programs’ successes on the backs of the rest of this conference we’d all still be waiting a long long time.
Bottom line, control what you can control and win more games.
Transfer portal check-up
For those curious how some of our former Aztecs are doing in their “Power Conferences” since transferring out, here’s a little something to wet your whistle.
Micah Parrish
For Parrish he continues to slightly raise his stock as a role player at Ohio State. His 29 average minutes played per game is just 1.5 more minutes than last season at SDSU. His 10.0 points per game is just one point above where he left off as well.
His 3 point percentage is back up above 34% however after taking a big hit last season at 29%.
Ohio State currently stands at 10-7 good enough for 12th in a league of 18 teams. The Buckeye’s have lost 3 of their last 4 games coming into tomorrow night’s matchup against Indiana.
Lamont Butler
Butler was quickly coveted in the transfer portal this past off season by 1st year Kentucky head coach Mark Pope. Then he was recruited over with other guards that can play the point. Some didn’t expect Butler to be a major player as part of the Wildcats, but they were wrong.
Lamont has elevated his points per game from 9.3 in 23-24 to 13.4 now in 24-25. His field goal percentage has increased from .421 to .535. He’s already 11 free throws made shy from last years total and there’s plenty of schedule left to get into.
Butler’s 3-point percentage is also the highest in his career currently at just under 40%. But it’s his most prized disciplines on defense that are also on par with last season. All this as his minutes played are way down compared to what he was used to at SDSU.
Though Butler is continuing to grow on the Kentucky dependable list and he is playing against stiffer competition night in and night out, when it’s all said and done it will be what he does in March that will truly define his year spent at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky stands at 14-3 overall and 3-1 for 5th place in the SEC so far.
Elijah Saunders
Elijah is a peculiar situation. After he transferred out of San Diego State and in to the Virginia Cavaliers program, his head coach Tony Bennett had surprisingly stepped down in retirement. New coach Ron Sanchez is in his interim. Perhaps so is Elijah.
Elijah was considered a locked in starter for SDSU this season. Since leaving he has increased in many areas for the simple fact he is getting much more of an opportunity now as an upperclassmen. Saunders went from 5 minutes played per game as a freshman to 20.2 last season. Now in the ACC he is logging just under 29 minutes per game.
Saunders is scoring on an 11.9 points per game average compared to his 6.2 average last season and he is hitting 37% from 3-point range compared to 32% last year. His rebounding is up two more per game at 5.3. But other than that nothing else much has changed.
Virginia stands at just 8-9 on the season and 15th in the ACC.
San Diego State hosts UNLV this Saturday at Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA. Tip-off time is schedule for 5pm and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
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