With the San Diego State men’s basketball team having completed the bulk of its non-conference games and Mountain West Conference play beginning on Wednesday, now marks a good time to take a moment to reflect on what they’ve shown in starting out with a 5-3 record.
For many Aztecs fans, the team’s play has fallen short of expectations. The 2025-2026 squad returned a ton of experienced and talented players while bringing in some tantalizing newcomers. The MWC preseason poll agreed, making San Diego State the clear favorites to win the league as the Aztecs received all 26 first-place votes prior to the season’s tip.
But early on it’s been far from smooth sailing for the men from Montezuma Mesa. However, a closer look identifies potential bright spots for those willing to search for them.
Outside of the devasting home loss to Troy, the Aztecs have performed well enough on the whole. Yes, the 40-point loss to Michigan in the Players Era stung, but seeing the Big10 Wolverines beat up on Gonzaga by the same margin a few nights later helped put that performance in perspective.
The Baylor game in the same tournament could have gone either way and the Oregon win likely could not have gone any better for SDSU. Anytime you beat a Power 4 team by 17 points you’ve done something worth noting.
The Arizona Wildcats represent one more Power conference measuring stick for SDSU. A win, or even a close contest in that game scheduled for Dec. 20, could boost San Diego State’s confidence that it can compete with any team despite its uneven start to the current campaign.
What’s Going Well
As the Aztecs get set to host the Air Force Academy on Dec. 17, they will need to keep thoughts of facing the #1 team in the nation UofA on hold.
On the positive side, SDSU’s offensive numbers are up from last season. The team is scoring 82 points per game through eight games, up from the 71 per contest it scored last season.
Shooting percentages have ticked up as well as the squad has hit on 47.7% of its shots this season. On threes, the Aztecs sit at 40.5%. Last season the team shot 44.3% overall and only 33.3% on three-point attempts.
Junior guard BJ Davis leads the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game. After starting for the injured Reese Dixon-Waters last season, Davis occupies a super sub role for this year’s team. His play should be an example for how a player needs to embrace his role without getting frustrated.
“I don’t really think about coming off the bench, to be honest,” he said after scoring 16 in the recent win over Lamar. “If they need me to come off the bench and be that spark, I’ll do that. It was on my mind at first, and now I’m grounded and focused on the bigger picture, which is winning.”
Work in Progress
SDSU regularly plays 11 players this season so finding the right combinations and team chemistry remain works in progress. Let’s not forget the team has four players in the rotation who did not play D1 basketball last season – both Dixon-Waters and Jeremiah Oden sat out last year due to injury and Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons were playing in high school this time one year ago.
Add in that Magoon Gwath had off-season surgery on his knee that required a lengthy rehabilitation and it really shouldn’t be too surprising that the Aztecs coaches have yet to figure out who they can trust in key moments. Their track record says they will.
Where the current Aztecs’ team has struggled the most this season is on defense. San Diego State, long one of the nation’s strongest defense units, has yet to find its stride in stopping opponents.
The team surrenders 76.5 points per game this season thus far, a whopping 12 points more per game than in 2024-25. SDSU ranks 11th in the now 12-team MWC in scoring defense and dead last in three-point defensive percentage.
San Diego State’s perimeter defense has allowed too much dribble penetration requiring their bigs to rotate over to protect the basket. That scrambling has led to open threes on kick outs from the driving guards and fouls on players contesting shots.
For SDSU to improve on its current 91 NET ranking, seventh best in the MWC, the defense must improve and resemble the lock down defenses of previous Aztecs teams.
The Drive is the Journey
Before the season began, we suggested that this year’s level of success could depend largely on how well players managed their personal ambitions alongside team expectations and goals. We still believe that to be the case.
There have been signs of frustration and confusion over assignments and roles. But it’s still early. This team possesses the talent and experience to complete for a MWC title.
It won’t be as easy as some predicted. Utah State has gotten off to a 9-1 start and sits at #33 in the NET. The Aggies are a solid basketball team once again. Colorado State, Wyoming, Nevada, and New Mexico have 8 wins in the nonconference schedule. Boise State looks competitive as well with its 7-3 mark.
After last week’s win over Lamar, Coach Brian Dutcher was asked about the play of his preseason MWC Player of the Year Miles Byrd. Dutcher’s answer not only lends insights to his thoughts on his star player but could also be applied to his still-developing team as a collective.
“He’s got to play the full game where he can shoot the three and then attack off the bounce, get to the rim, and get to the foul line,” the coach told the press. “He’s growing his game still. As mature as he is in his fourth year, he still has room to grow. Hopefully, we’ll continue to work on him to grow his game to where he wants it to be, and we want to be.”
Aztecs fans there are lots of games and season left. If this team can continue to work on its play, especially defensively, and grow to where the coaches want it to be, the chance for a special season remains despite the uneven start.
SDSU returns to the court on Wednesday, December 17 at 7:00pm as they play Air Force. TV coverage will be handled by CBS Sports Network with San Diego Sports 760 taking care of the game on radio.
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