What San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said after loss to North Carolina
San Diego State’s 2024-25 season came to an end on Tuesday night with a 95-68 loss to North Carolina in Dayton, Ohio, playing in the NCAA tournament’s First Four.
The Aztecs (21-10) advanced to their fifth consecutive NCAA tournament but ended the year with back-to-back losses after dropping last week’s Mountain West Conference quarterfinal to Boise State. San Diego State led 6-5 in the early going before a North Carolina run put the Tarheels up by 20 points late in the half. Senior guard RJ Davis knocked down his third three-pointer of the half as the clock expired to give North Carolina a 47-23 lead at the break.
The Tarheels continued their offensive dominance in the second half, finishing the night 14-24 from three-point range. San Diego State got outrebounded 39 to 28 to shot 26 percent from the field in the first half, allowing the Tarheels to build their lead. Guards Nick Boyd and Wayne McKinney led the Aztecs with 12 points each while Magoon Gwath and BJ Davis each finished with nine points.
Here’s everything Dutcher said after Tuesday’s loss in the NCAA First Four.
BRIAN DUTCHER: Well, congratulations to North Carolina for advancing. I knew going into the game, I had watched them on tape, that they were playing really well, that they were playing tight. I thought they were ready for any situation. They're well-coached, and they're talented, and they're playing really good basketball right now. We tip our hats to them. Obviously, we wish we'd have given them more of a game, but we hang our hat on our defense, and we couldn't get stops. We knew we had to play in the 70s to have a chance, and they were up in the 90s. Really happy for the season we had but obviously disappointed in the way we finished it.
Q. Dutch, same thing; this is a program that doesn't take losses like this and doesn't give up 95 points. What's that like sitting there on the bench and looking at the scoreboard just rolling up when you hold teams to 50s and 60s all the time?
BRIAN DUTCHER: Yeah, I thought we had a decent game plan. We knew we had to take the fast break away, and we didn't do that to start the game. They built momentum on the break. And then they started making some threes. They made 14 for the game. I think they make seven on a game on the season, seven or eight. So, they shot the ball well. Obviously, our game plan was not good enough. We tried to switch ball screens, front, but they drove us, they got it over the top. And we got down by so many at that point, you're just trying to find a way to go on any kind of run to hang in there to make it where you might -- they might feel you at the end. But they expanded the lead, and then it was just trying to play for pride at that point. We were so desperately out of it. We're a prideful program. We wanted to fight until the end. We did not want to give into them. And to our kids' credit, I thought they fought until the very end. There are lessons to be learned obviously. It has to leave a taste in your mouth that it's unacceptable. But I've been doing this a long time, and I've seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and usually you can learn from both winning and losing. So, we'll have to learn from losing tonight.
Q. Obviously you guys, it was a very, very tough travel logistically. You had no prep practice for this game, which is very unusual. How much did that affect some of the rotations, some of the open looks they were getting in the first half particularly?
BRIAN DUTCHER: Yeah, obviously I wish we had a little more time, but they didn't have much more time than we had. I would have liked to have practiced in San Diego before we came. That didn't happen. We flew across the country, did a public practice and did our first real film work after that. Like yesterday night, 8:00 or 9:00 at night was our first prep time. We did a walk-through today in a ballroom and went to shootaround and tried to walk through some things. We played a lot of games. So, we've done a lot of different things. So, it's not like we're starting from scratch. We thought we had a game plan that would work, but obviously they're playing at a really high level right now. I saw that on tape. Sometimes you watch a team on tape, and you're hoping there's some flaws, but they're playing at a high level right now. I saw that if you switch ball screens exactly what they know what they're going to do; if you hedge ball screens, they know what they're going to do; if you're in drop, they know what they're going to do. So, they're well-coached, and they have a counter and a game plan for everything you're trying to do. So, you have to play well. Not only do you have to have a game plan, but you have to play well. We didn't match their level of play tonight, and that's a credit to them and their coaching staff.
Q. Coach, obviously one of your responsibilities is trying to get a grasp on the tempo of the game, control your team, but it seemed like that stretch where Davis hits a three right before halftime, right after halftime, and then you guys get a technical, from your perspective, how important was that stretch in terms of maybe frustration or perhaps the game getting away?
BRIAN DUTCHER: Yeah, that's what I told -- I said at halftime to Jon Rothstein, the biggest enemy of any team is frustration or any player. So, when you get frustrated, you have a momentary lapse as to where you should be, what you should be doing because you're frustrated at the offensive end. And I thought we lost him a couple of times. We lost him on a guard-to-guard ball screen where he hit a three, then the very next time we lost him on a penetration and kick and then to start the second half. I mean, this is the second all-time leading scorer in ACC history. So even if you play well, he's capable of bouncing up and making shots. We made some mistakes where we gave him a couple good looks, but he's capable of making hard looks, too. He's a gifted player and he got on a roll, and he's hard to guard when that happens.
Q. Five years ago you would have played your final game, gone home, maybe gone on vacation, taken a break, started spring practices. Can you explain how different it is now?
BRIAN DUTCHER: Yeah, the work starts now, recruiting starts. The portal opens shortly, and we'll find out who's coming back from our team. We'll find out who's available. Like every team in the country, we'll try to put a roster together for next year, negotiating NIL deals, and turn my coaching hat to a GM hat and try to put a team together for next year that'll be competitive and have an opportunity to come back here and play in the dance and hopefully advance in it like we have in the last two years.
Q. Along those lines, when you lost against Syracuse in 2021, you guys retooled your roster. You walked out, saw that game, saw what happened and said, we've got to get bigger. And you got bigger, and you were so big that you bullied teams all the way to the National Championship game. What lessons will you take from this experience tonight, and how do you need to get better either through retaining players or the transfer portal?
BRIAN DUTCHER: Yeah, obviously we have a young team. Six of our top 10 are freshmen or sophomores. So, they have to grow. They have to have a learning experience, and they have to come back and get better physically and mentally and become better players. Obviously, we have to add pieces. We'll look at what we have coming back and find out what our deficiencies are and try to fill some of those deficiencies. We've had pretty good success in the transfer portal. We were taking transfers before the portal existed. So, we've always been able to piece together four-year guys and then add pieces out of the transfer market and find a way to have a good team. So that's the goal again, to retain the players that want to be here and then to add pieces in the portal and continue to keep San Diego State relevant at a national level, and that's what my goal and job as a head coach is.
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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.