It took a Lamont Butler buzzer-beater and some heroics to push San Diego State into an NCAA Tournament finals berth last year. Unfortunately, the same story was not fated for Brian Dutcher's Aztecs this year. The music had to stop when they had to dance against Dan Hurley and the Cam Spencer-led UConn Huskies.
Coach Brian Dutcher had a long path to the NCAA Tournament. His San Diego State basketball squad was just fifth in the Mountain West conference and had to make their way up. Thankfully, the Aztecs proved that they belonged in the Field of 68 and started to get on a heater. They edged out UAB in the first round, and proceeded to demolish Yale, but had to crumble to the individuals who ended their natty hopes last year, UConn.
Nonetheless, the Aztecs are still magnanimous despite the outcome. All Coach Brian Dutcher could do was thank every single player who poured their hearts out for San Diego State during their 2023-24 campaign, via Chris Spiering of ClutchPoints.
“I want to say it’s not the ending we will remember, it’s the journey. The journey is everything and we had an incredible journey together. I take great joy here tonight (with these guys sitting next to me) that they are 7-2 on college basketball’s biggest stage over the last two years. It’s something we take great pride in,” the head honcho declared.
Two players tried to keep San Diego State afloat in the NCAA Tournament. Jaedon Lee played 30 minutes and surely wanted more given the situation that they were in. He still put up 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds. The other double-digit scorer was Micah Parrish. This guard was trying his hardest to pick apart Dan Hurley's defensive schemes and came out successful in some attempts. He ended the game on 27 minutes played while recording 10 points and three boards.
When the curtains closed on their national championship hopes, Coach Dutcher had the most beautiful parting words.
“It’s not the ending we’re going to remember, but the journey,” he concluded.
San Diego State forced to stop dancing
Schemes were not at all clicking for the Aztecs in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen. Two factors led directly to their early exit in the hands of a former adversary, three-pointers and rebounding.
Nothing was going in for San Diego State when they launched shots from deep. In fact, the Aztecs finished the game with only five made shots from way out despite launching 22 attempts. This totaled to a horrid 22.7% shooting percentage. UConn did better as they knocked down three-pointers at a fairly decent 38.5% clip.
Another punch that Coach Dutcher's squad kept taking but did not retaliate on was rebounding. They only managed to grab 29 boards throughout the whole two halves of the game. Meanwhile, the Cam Spencer-led squad notched 50 of them and even managed to bully the Aztecs by grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
The nails in the coffin were the 10 steals that UConn forced on them and the fact that San Diego State only managed to record nine assists.
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