The famous traditional ‘first point’ clap has returned throughout the crowd at the Viejas Arena. The season started off right for the San Diego State Aztecs, who defeated Long State Beach 77-45 to put the Aztecs at 1-0 to start the season.
At the beginning of the season, the team’s focus is about building a culture and locking in an identity, which it feels like the Aztecs have already established what they value their team around: Defense.
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Defensive Identity
The Beach is coming off a 7-25 season while also going 3-17 in conference play. The game was pretty lopsided for much of it, however, that doesn’t take away from the defensive identity the Aztecs have.
That defense held The Beach to 32.2% from the field (19-of-59), 20.0% from the 3-point line (5-of-24) and 40% from the free throw line (2-of-5).
Head coach Brian Dutcher has set a culture for the team that he values defense over everything else. He credits that mainly by having fresh legs on the court as much as possible.
“I think we are good defensive team because we have fresh legs on the floor, if I ask my point guard to play 40 minutes per game it’s probably not going to end well,” Dutcher said.
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Now that makes perfect sense.
While many teams at high DI programs rely on not going past seven or eight players in their rotation, Dutcher holds the belief that to have an effective defense it’s going to take a collective effort of more than eight guys to do it.
Junior guard Miles Byrd re-emphasized how important defense was for the program.
“If you don’t play defense you’re not going to play, so when you come here it becomes a part of you to play defense,” the preseason All-Mountain West selection said.
In the first half, funior forward Miles Heide started it off with back-to-back steals that led to transition buckets. That led to assertive pressure in the full court from guards BJ Davis, who played 21 minutes with starter Taj DeGourville getting into early foul trouble, and Byrd, who finished the game with a team-high 13 points.
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Offensive Explosion
From that came an offensive explosion, and it was no turning back for the Aztecs as they simply converted defense into up tempo fast break offense.
In the last six minutes of the first half, they would go on a 20-5 run filled with high-flying dunks by freshman guard Elize Harrington and sophomore forward Pharaoh Compton, followed by the interior scoring of freshman forward Tae Simmons and back-to-back 3-pointers from Byrd taking care of the perimeter scoring.
The stage was set for a smooth victory for the home team.
When a team can force turnovers and turn that into transition layups and dunks, it brings another level of excitement to the game. Also, with the Aztecs moving the ball in the half-court, everyone feels not only a part of the defense but the offense as well.
The Aztecs will begin the process of defending their winning streak when they take on Idaho State back at home on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Viejas Arena.
