San Diego State brings new, familiar tenets into the West Coast showdown with No. 4 Gonzaga

SAN DIEGO – Gonzaga’s Mark Few and San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher bumped into each other last month at the joint West Coast Conference/Mountain West Conference media day in Las Vegas.

The coaches didn’t cover much ground during a brief conversation, chatting just long enough to exchange a few surface-level thoughts about their new rosters before both were whisked away to their next media commitment.

“He was talking about all his new guys, I was like, I know you’re going to play good defense and I know you’re going to bounce back,” Few said on Oct. 17. “That’s a given with San Diego State.”

The odds are on both sides of Monday’s matchup between fourth-ranked Gonzaga (3-0) and San Diego State (2-0) at 7:00 PM (CBSSN) at Viejas Arena.

When San Diego State hung 100 points on Division III Occidental College last Tuesday, Dutcher worried that his team’s outside shooting display — the Aztecs connected 18 times from behind the 3-point line in the 51-point win over Occidental — may have been premature .

“I wish we could have saved some of those 3s,” Dutcher told reporters. “You know, put them in the bank and led them back against Gonzaga.”

It will be a clash of styles and future Pac-12 Conference foes when the Aztecs and Zagers square off in the second game of a home-and-home series that started last year in Spokane when the Dutchers’ team broke away late in the second half won 84-74 and handed GU its first double-digit home loss since 2015.

San Diego State looks significantly different than it did last season after losing six of its top seven scorers to graduation or the transfer portal, and after a few notable injuries, it’s also possible that the Aztecs will hardly resemble the team that came for pre-season training camp. a month ago.

Reese Waters, a 6-foot-6 senior guard who was SDSU’s leading scorer with 22 points last season in the win over Gonzaga, is expected to miss a few more weeks with a stress fracture. The Aztecs could resort to an even smaller look in the backcourt if 6-foot-7 sophomore guard Miles Byrd misses his second straight game with an ankle injury. Byrd scored nine points and had four rebounds off the bench in Spokane last season.

“We’re going to try to get him healed up as quickly as we can, and like I said, it’s probably really going to be a game-time decision depending on how quickly the rehab goes on it,” Dutcher said. “It’s hard to believe he’s going to play, but that’s the beauty of not playing for six days. He’s limping around, he couldn’t play tomorrow, he probably couldn’t play the next day.”

Few are less concerned about SDSU’s personnel — who’s gone, who’s back, who’s injured, who’s healthy — and reiterated Friday that the Aztecs still rely on familiar principles, bringing a level of athleticism, defensive discipline and rebounding. The Zags rarely look downfield. of the season.

“They look the same to me,” Few said. “That’s the beauty of their program, just a bunch of tough, athletic guys who get you in a rock game the way they play defense. They absolutely want to pound the glass, they want to be in those holes breaking us down and doing it hard. They get really, really physical.

“They get big around the rim, so our bigs really have to be tough enough to get their moves and get to their shots. Then they’re just very opportunistic on offense.”

Gonzaga also has SDSU on high alert.

Even by their own inflated standards, the Bulldogs operate at a high level on the offensive end, ranking No. 1 nationally in offensive efficiency according to KenPom. Gonzaga averaged 100.6 points per game. game against Baylor, Arizona State and UMass Lowell teams that were all ranked in the top 125 of KenPom’s team ratings.

Another way to put GU’s offensive production into perspective?

Before Tuesday’s win over Occidental, SDSU had not scored 100 points in regulation since 2018. In that same span, few Gonzaga teams have scored 100 points in 35 games.

“We scored 100 points and everybody’s like, wow that’s great,” Dutcher said. “I think in their first three games, Gonzaga is averaging 95. How is that possible? They played Arizona State and Baylor. It’s common for them to score that many points. We’re sitting in here like, wow, that is incredible. Now we have to play against a team that scores so many every night.

“So we’ve got to find a way to not allow that to happen in this building. We’ve got to be tough and tough defensively and rebounding. Then we’ve got to find a way to produce enough offense to win against a really good team next Monday.”

It will be a new look for SDSU’s frontcourt, which loses AP third-team All-American Jaedon LeDee, a 21.4-point-per-game scorer. match last season.

After dealing with LeDee’s physicality and strength last season, Gonzaga forward Graham Ike will face another test in 7-foot freshman Magoon Gwath, known more for his high level of rim protection and floor-stretching ability. Gwath isn’t an offensive threat two games into his college career, but he’s averaging 3.5 blocks.

Ike brings an 0-5 career record against SDSU into Monday’s game and made it clear during WCC media day interviews that he is determined to beat the Aztecs in what will likely be his last attempt against Dutcher’s team.

“Personally, for me, I always enjoy playing San Diego State just because I’ve been playing them since I got to college,” Ike said. “I already know it’s going to be a dogfight every time we play them, but it’s definitely one I’m looking forward to.”

Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard, who has 30 assists and two turnovers in three games, has also lost to SDSU at two different schools. Nembhard’s 2022-23 Creighton team lost to SDSU in the Elite Eight.

There’s also an Aztec looking for its first win against Gonzaga. University of San Diego transfer Wayne McKinney III, who is averaging 10.5 ppg, lost four times to Gonzaga in the WCC, but should have his best chance to knock off the Bulldogs on Monday after transferring to the school across town.

“This game definitely means something to me, it means something to us,” McKinney said. “This is one of our important ones that we have marked on our schedule, so to get one especially here at home, it means everything to us, so we have to get it done.”